The Ad Campaign of the Year

Let’s be honest with ourselves—99.9% of all wine advertising in glossy magazines is horrible.  It says very little of anything to anybody and is largely anonymous with zero level of creativity.

Kendall-Jackson isn’t even an exception, they just run so much advertising (at least in the magazines I read) that they are familiar and almost ubiquitous, but not necessarily good.  Their tagline of, “A Taste of Truth” is far from compelling. 

I couldn’t even tell you the other wines that regularly advertise in Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, Quarterly Review of Wines, Wine Press or any other magazine—I have virtually no recall, which isn’t a good thing. 

For once, I would like to see a wine ad that is contemporary and tries to build a brand by targeting a specific demo. with compelling creative.  Instead, we get the same warmed over wine lifestyle aspirational ads.  Snooze.  Yawn.  Boring.

Here’s an idea—it’s not even mine; but I wish somebody in the wine business would steal it - tap into the human condition and the maturing of Gen. Y (I’ll even forsake asking for relevant advertising for my demo - Gen. X)—and the passage of time that happens for everybody when they cross the chasm of seeing their parents as authority figures to when they become friends with their parents on equal (or near equal) footing.  It happens around age 25 or 26, I think.

In fact, that’s what Canadian Club whiskey is doing in brilliant ads that have been running this year ...  not only are they playing into the notion of your Dad probably being pretty cool back in the day, they are turning it into something that makes you want to pour a CC on the rocks and look through old photo albums.

My favorite ad?  “Your Dad Was Not a Metrosexual.”  Classic.  And, true.  My Dad doesn’t drink Canadian Club, but he does drink Stroh’s—fired brewed goodness, according to the can.  Wine?  Not so much.

Bonus points if an old wine brand re-emerges with something hip—Blue Nun, Mateus, Carlo Rossi in a jug, or Cold Duck.

For inspiration, here are three current Canadian Club ads that hit exactly the right balance of kitschy cool, nostalgia, authenticity and voice.