Last night Carlsberg showcased their new advert for Danish Pilsner on ITV by advertising agency Fold7, starring Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen, who is also an ambassador for the brand.
The scene shows Mikkelsen rowing across a gloomy lake confessing, “In the UK, Carlsberg pursued being the biggest, not the best and the beer suffered.”
As he tries the new, improved Pilsner, he hints at what probably happened to the person responsible for the old beer whilst looking at the lake.
The £20 million campaign will run adverts throughout the summer, featuring some of the social media backlash and ‘mean tweets’ the company received regarding it’s old brew, allowing the brand to wear it’s heart on it’s sleeve with honesty and dark humour. These were first shared by the company back in April, where consumers had said its lager tasted like “p*ss” and other unsavoury comparisons.
“At Carlsberg UK, we lost our way. In order to live up to our promise of being ‘probably the best beer in the world’, we had to start again. We’ve completely rebrewed Carlsberg from head to hop,” says Liam Newton, vice-president marketing.
Although too early to say, the initial response has been mixed, but it seems people may be willing to try the beer again, and the brand are confident that this will be just the change in perception they need.
