Stay Thirsty, My Friends

What makes an ad campaign effective? Is it only that it boosts sales? Should it be funny? Or serious? In my opinion, memorability is what makes an ad campaign the most effective. Havas Worldwide has done this extremely well with its ad campaign “The Most Interesting Man in the World” for Dos Equis.

In this series of commercials, Havas Worldwide shows a man going on adventures and doing other fun and dangerous things.  They have a voiceover explaining how interesting he is by saying things like “He gave his father the talk” and “if opportunity knocks and he’s not home, opportunity waits.” The commercials end with the man saying “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis” and then a final “Stay thirsty, my friends.” This simple yet memorable ad concept has gained Dos Equis a lot of notoriety considering they were virtually unknown before this ad campaign. This campaign has become extremely memorable and because of its memorability, it basically advertises itself. People know the commercials and they know the “I don’t always drink beer” phrase. This phrase has become so popular that on the internet people often put the picture of the man with text that reads “I don’t always ___, but when I do, I ___.” The ability for people to take this phrase and make it their own is what makes this ad campaign so successful.

Although The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign might be one of the most memorable ones that Havas Worldwide has created, their company makes many ads for many other companies. They create ads for international companies such as Air France and Durex as well and US companies such as IBM, Keurig, d-Con, and many more. Their ads aim to be memorable and understandable.

Another set of ads that they have are for d-CON, the mouse killer. These 5 ads are literally just a shot of a mouse hole in a wall with audio of the mice speaking over top. My favorite of these is the one of a mouse calling 911 saying that her husband needs help because one minute he was fine and then… the d-CON logo comes onto the screen implying that he ate the d-CON and died. These ads are short and to the point while being extremely effective and, in my opinion, funny. This simplicity is really what helps Havas Worldwide drive the point home in many of their ads.