Out and About in Adland pt. 1

Class today trekked across Paris to find an needle in the haystack breakfast joint  - Breakfast in America. In the sea of cuisine that is Paris there is B.I.A. and American-style diner. This place is an American’s dream. Imported meat – Bacon! – and just food that tastes like home. Along the way we looked at ads around Paris for class.

A big thing I noticed is the majority of the ads here in Paris are all for alcoholic beverages. 

A new campaign that rolled out this week is for Desperados – a French based tequila flavored lager. I repeat. tequila flavored LAGER. I mean I guess we have Budlight Lime... but still, tequila? My verdict is out until I try it but with that being said they have some sweet, flashy ads. The product itself is different, a flavored malt beverage. It is not for your average beer drinker and the campaign grabs this idea and presents it with its Imagine campaign. The ads are unexpected because the product itself is unexpected and the ads are punchy, colorful, and bright enough to catch the eye and stand out among the clutter. The campaign is relevant to Desperados intended audience. 

Desperados places their ads throughout the streets and Metro. The campaign for Desperados centers around the word 'IMAGINE.' All three of the posters I saw for the drink not only have the word, but include it in the URL in the bottom right corner of each ad: www.imagine-desperados.fr The idea of the Imagine campaign is to convey the notion that Desperados is the drink for people who do what ever they can imagine/put their mind to. 

The campaign is urban and hip. Looking at the ads we can tell that the art and copy of the campaign is to attract younger people. Desperados targets them because they are most likely to try a new product. 

The original flavor is shown with the word 'ORIGINAL' following the 'Imagine Desperados' copy. Graffiti explodes out of the bottle against a brick wall brought about by the flavor. This implies the non-mainstream audience that the flavored lager beverage is marketed to. The graffiti fits in for the original flavor because France is covered in graffiti on almost every wall - just like is shown in the ad - and Desperados is brewed in France. This nod to France also depicts the type of people Desperados targets - counter culture males. 

The next poster/flavor of Desperados is for Desperados Red. The word Red is on the poster making the ad relevant to the intended product. It has Guarana in it which is included in many energy related products. So the creative art of the ad depicting an explosion of energy when uncapped perfectly describes the product in a simple way. 

Finally the third poster for Desperados is for the MAS product. A more lime and authentic Tequila based product. When opened you get a more citrus taste with the tequila lager. The ad shows this idea that when uncapped you can taste the lime like it is right off the vine. The freshness is conveyed and the notion of 'MAS - more' is shown with the added lime flavor. 

The heavy visuals and creative nature of the different posters all help push the 'IMAGINE' idea to the consumer and enforce the creative message that Desperados wants aligned with their brand identity.