take off, eh!

Advertising: Selling Canadian Beer to Americans

By STUART ELLIOTT

August 20, 1997

A couple of characters who once relentlessly mocked all things Canadian are
back, selling Canadian beer to Americans.

They are Bob and Doug McKenzie, nerdy brothers clad in flannel shirts and
wool caps that Canadians call tuques. The silly siblings, whose lives
revolved around finding and drinking beer, were introduced by the actors
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in skits that appeared as part of the
satirical Canadian television series "SCTV Network."

The characters became popular in the United States, simultaneously spoofing
and symbolizing Canadians, after the series began running on NBC in the
early 1980s. They later appeared on a comedy album and in a film, "Strange
Brew."

Now, almost two decades after uttering their first "Eh?" the strange
brothers have been transformed from beer chasers to beer salesmen by Miller
Brewing Co. -- which handles U.S. import sales for the Molson Breweries
Ltd. division of Molson Cos. -- and Young & Rubicam New York.

A series of commercials presents Moranis and Thomas reprising the McKenzie
characters, only this time they have narrowed their focus from all beers to
Molson brands.

The reappearance of the brew-mad brothers is indicative of the growing
confluence of advertising and popular culture, with each inspiring and
borrowing from the other.

Still, though it is not unusual for characters from a TV series to pitch
products -- even Fred Flintstone once peddled Winston cigarettes -- the
McKenzies' comeback is atypical because it comes so long after their peak
visibility.

"We held focus groups all over the country to better understand the Molson
brands," said Jeff Kellar, senior brand manager for the Molson Breweries
U.S.A. unit of Miller in Milwaukee, owned by Philip Morris Cos., "and it
was pretty amazing how high the McKenzie brothers were in awareness, even
though they weren't on the air."

That was true even among younger drinkers, he added, who are prized by
brewers because they are forming brand loyalties and buy more beer than
older consumers.

"All the impressions the McKenzies have made, from 'SCTV,' 'Strange Brew'
and their album, have maintained a level of awareness among beer drinkers,"
Kellar said, "and this was the interesting thing: They had top-of-mind
awareness among beer drinkers 21 to 27, as well as those 34-plus."

Many Web sites are devoted partly or wholly to the brothers, including the
Bob and Doug Hoser Page, named after the derogatory term that the
characters often called each other, and the "Great White North" Home Page,
named after a title of their skits on "SCTV."

"We found about 100 Web sites that young beer drinkers have set up on their
own," said Cory Basso, vice president and account director on the Miller
account at Young & Rubicam New York, part of Young & Rubicam Advertising.
"And we're getting e-mail comments about the commercials, all from the
21-to-27 target" for the campaign.

The McKenzies of the '90s, as depicted in the commercials, look and act
almost the way they did in the '80s -- very Donald Trump, eh? Dressed again
in flannel and tuques, they repeat much of their patter ("Take off, eh?")
and routines. For instance, Moranis opens each spot by proclaiming, "G'day,
I'm Bob McKenzie and this is my brother, Doug," and Thomas replies, "How's
it going, eh?"

One difference is that Miller and the agency have refocused the characters'
parodic aim. Now they make light of making beer ads, tossing barbs at
"beautiful people socializing in stylish locales" and how "you can't drink
beer on TV."

That compares with their primary purpose on "SCTV," which was to lampoon a
Canadian government requirement that programming produced in Canada include
intrinsic "Canadian content." So the McKenzies bantered about Canadiana
like back bacon and embodied identifiably Canadian stereotypes like saying
"Eh?," munching doughnuts and adoring beer.

"Our concept was that Canadians appreciate beer a little more than
Americans," said Randy Van Kleeck, vice president and creative director at
Young & Rubicam New York, who created the campaign with Nelson Martinez.
"Who better to represent Canadian beer than the McKenzie brothers, because
they're so all about beer and Canada."

Another difference, said Martinez, who is also a vice president and
creative director, is that now the McKenzies are "scamming good beer"
rather than any beer.

The multimillion-dollar campaign began in March with commercials for Molson
Golden, which ranked sixth last year among all imported beer brands at 5.9
million cases, according to Impact Databank, a unit of M. Shanken
Communications in New York.

After what Kellar described as sales gains in supermarkets that "almost
doubled our rate of growth" to 9.4 percent from 5.1 percent, the campaign
was expanded in June to include spots for two additional, smaller brands,
Molson Light and Molson Canadian.

One question the revival raises is whether fans will be dismayed that the
McKenzies' comeback is sponsored like a Rolling Stones concert tour and as
a result decry Moranis and Thomas for selling out.

"I've not heard one word of that," Kellar said, adding, "On 'SCTV' there
were boxes of Molson behind them." His reference was to the set on which
the skits were performed.

"In our focus groups, the characters were so related to Canada and to
Molson," Basso said, "that consumers thought they had a relationship with
Molson, even though they hadn't."

And Moranis and Thomas undercut any concerns viewers may have by joking
about commercials and uttering lines like "We're doing this for free beer."

Now that Canadian beer is being sold with Canadian characters to Americans,
how is American beer being sold to Canadians?

You guessed it: The Canadian trade publication Marketing Magazine reported
that a campaign sponsored by Molson in Quebec for Miller beers, created by
Cossette Communication-Marketing in Montreal, includes Chevrolets decorated
to resemble New York City taxicabs.