ADS OF THE DAY: Boddingtons
A lot of great things came out of Manchester in the 80s and 90s.
The all-conquering Manchester United team (doesn’t that seem a distant memory).
Under the skilful management of Alex Ferguson, they dominated the Premier League and went on to secure the Treble of League Cup, FA Cup, and Champions League in 1999.
Then there was the music.
In the 90s, Manchester became the epicentre of cool in the UK thanks to its culture, music and legendary nightlife based around the Factory Records label and the Hacienda nightclub.
Some of the biggest bands of the time including Joy Division, New Order, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Happy Mondays, the Verve and Take That all came from Manchester.
The city also saw rapid social and cultural change through the growth of its gay village, Manchester Pride, Chinatown and the vibrant and alternative creative hub, The Northern Quarter.
CREAM RISES TO THE TOP
It was around this time that a little-known local bitter weighed in and really put Manchester on the cultural map.
At the time, bitter advertising was all serious blokes banging on about hops, mash tuns and original gravity.
Backed up by manly copy rambling on about the intricacies of the brewing process, timeless tradition and flavour.
Boddingtons was just such a brand, a much-loved local session pint in Manchester.
It had just been bought by Whitbreads which was an existing client of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH).
Whitbread wanted to experiment with rolling out a new campaign for Boddingtons nationally, as they’d never advertised nationally before.
And BBH were given the brief.
GIVE IT SOME HEAD
The original brief focused on the creamy head.
This was slightly controversial.
People liked a creamy head up north. But in the south, punters just saw it as creamy froth taking up valuable space for more beer.
Whch is why the research said, ‘Don’t mention the head’ in national advertising.
BBH thought different and made it all about the creamy head.
But even more radical than focusing on the creamy head was talking about a pint of bitter from Manchester.
Sacrilege.
Back then, Yorkshire was widely regarded among drinkers as having all the best bitters – Tetley’s, Timothy Taylor's, Webster’s Black Sheep, Sam Smith’s, Theakston’s, Wold Top, Butterly and plenty more.
A creamy beer from Manchester?
Ridiculous.
BBH went one further and boasted about it in the strapline.
Boddingtons. The Cream of Manchester.
GRAB A PINT
The very first idea was the milk bottle – a pint of beer in a gold top milk bottle.
No long copy about hops, brewing, craft, tradition, taste or flavour.
Just the strapline and a pay-off:
Boddingtons Draught Bitter. Brewed at the Strangeways Brewery since 1778.
And where most clients don’t like creatives playing around with the product, Whitbread bought into it straight away.
In effect, the ads were just like posters. Stunningly visual with strong imagery, vivid colour and clear branding.
GO STRAIGHT TO THE BACK
Clever media choices also gave the campaign stand-out.
Because the ads were like posters, the agency wanted them to go on the back pages of magazines – a space that most advertisers didn’t want.
Most people turn over a magazine once they’ve read it. Then it sits there on the coffee table for days proudly displaying the ad.
It’s the same on the tube, bus or train. People sit there bored staring intently at the back pages of magazine other passengers are reading.
The campaign went down very nicely.
It picked up the D&AD Wood Pencil for Press Advertising in Newspapers or Consumer Magazines Colour in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996.
Make mine a Boddies.
