Who's Foster's guy?
Megan Case encroached on my territory, commenting on a Foster’s Beer ad in St.Pete’s Metro. I have no choice but comment. Megan wrote:
Foster’s Beer was bombarding Russian men with such ads for eight months already, spending millions on even more offensive machismo TV commercials. It seems that they run out of money and can afford only Metro. What’s the result? Forster’s proudly occupies 0.25 % market share in Moscow and 0.15 % in St. Petersburg. Even expensive brands that were never advertised have no problems getting 1-1.5% market share in Moscow simply because there are so many people that buy beer without even looking at the label. 0.25 % could only mean that even people, who don’t give a damn about brand names, try to avoid Foster’s.
What Foster’s did wrong? It tried to import the idea that is totally alien to Russian culture. Foster’s message is not just pointless – it’s silly. Guys from Foster’s ads can only be associated with prototypes from American comedies for teenagers, like, “American pie”. Putting attractive gals on the lap sounds attractive at a fraternity all-boys party (do Aussies have fraternities?). It could also sound attractive to a drunk who lost any sensibility but Foster’s is out of his price segment.
A couple of months ago I witnessed a funny scene at a bar. A group of students (male and female) ordered beer and one of the guys asked for Forster’s. One of the girls looked at him with eyes wide opened and said jokingly, “I better sit away from Max. I don’t think he’ll keep himself under control”. Everyone burst out laughing. Max turned red. I don’t think Foster’s expected its marketing efforts go like that.
PS. A tip for students of Russian – a guy from Foster’s ad is called озабоченный.
Related Tags: Russia, St. Petersburg, advertisment, metro, Foster's, beer
…this merits some discussion regardless. Foster's Beer ads are known for their
borderline offensive machismo, but I wondered if this one was unique to the
Russian market, because I can't imagine it in any civilized country:
It says: You have to give up your (metro) seat to women/you can put the
attractive ones on your lap.
Foster’s Beer was bombarding Russian men with such ads for eight months already, spending millions on even more offensive machismo TV commercials. It seems that they run out of money and can afford only Metro. What’s the result? Forster’s proudly occupies 0.25 % market share in Moscow and 0.15 % in St. Petersburg. Even expensive brands that were never advertised have no problems getting 1-1.5% market share in Moscow simply because there are so many people that buy beer without even looking at the label. 0.25 % could only mean that even people, who don’t give a damn about brand names, try to avoid Foster’s.
What Foster’s did wrong? It tried to import the idea that is totally alien to Russian culture. Foster’s message is not just pointless – it’s silly. Guys from Foster’s ads can only be associated with prototypes from American comedies for teenagers, like, “American pie”. Putting attractive gals on the lap sounds attractive at a fraternity all-boys party (do Aussies have fraternities?). It could also sound attractive to a drunk who lost any sensibility but Foster’s is out of his price segment.
A couple of months ago I witnessed a funny scene at a bar. A group of students (male and female) ordered beer and one of the guys asked for Forster’s. One of the girls looked at him with eyes wide opened and said jokingly, “I better sit away from Max. I don’t think he’ll keep himself under control”. Everyone burst out laughing. Max turned red. I don’t think Foster’s expected its marketing efforts go like that.
PS. A tip for students of Russian – a guy from Foster’s ad is called озабоченный.
Related Tags: Russia, St. Petersburg, advertisment, metro, Foster's, beer
posted by Konstantin at Monday, April 17, 2006
1 Comments:
Speaking of others treading on your turf, I'm sure you would have something interesting to say about the "chto eto" ad campaign - apparently MTS's upcoming rebranding - that Snowsquare recently covered here. I immediately recalled somewhat similar campaigns from the past, but I haven't seen "chto eto" yet with my own eyes.
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