Beer advertisers seem to believe that images of buxom ladies, tailgating and frothy glasses are the ticket. While a fairly low degree of intelligence is assumed, research revealed that our target did actually have a brain and was rather irked by the clichés and sophomoric humor employed by the category. They felt misrepresented, misunderstood. These guys wanted to be seen as interesting. Inspired by this insight, we set out to turn the category on its head. In place of Joe Drinker with an easily relatable lifestyle, we created the Most Interesting Man in the World (MIM.) Instead of soothing the drinker with generic cues of masculinity, we used the sophisticated figure of the MIM, dashingly attired in Hemingway-style suits and situated in exotic and intriguing locales, to imply that all drinkers could and should be living a more interesting life.

•2009 Dos Equis sales +19.5% vs. YAG, bucking category decline of -3.6% •Since the Academy launch, page views on dosequis.com increased 130% with visits coming from 155 countries•Average time on site increased 33% from 5:53 to 7:52 with 22% of unique sessions lasting over 10 minutes •The Academy garnered 26,620 registered users -- almost triple that of the previous year’s Assistant search•Lastly, Dos Equis successfully infiltrated pop culture. Dos Equis mentions, imitations and spoofs showed up everywhere from Late Night with Conan O’Brien to Saturday Night Live; from Round the Horn, to American Dad; and from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, to Real Time with Bill Maher. Jon Stewart even went so far as to depict Bill Clinton in a Dos Equis print ad after his successful negotiation of the North Korean hostage release, suggesting that he too was living a more interesting life.

Using multiple touch-points, we blurred the lines between fact and fantasy, allowing our audience to play along.TV :30’s are a montage of the MIM’s exotic adventures designed to build his legend. :15s provide our target with wit, wisdom and advice garnered from a life lived interestingly.

Radio :60s further extend upon the MIM’s lore and legendPrint/OOH: Promotes overall brand awareness, and extends reach of MIM’s wisdom beyond TVInteractive: The Most interesting Academy, an online institution dedicated solely to the study of being interesting, provides a training ground to enhance its participants’ “interestingness,” and educate them in awe-inspiring skills and eclectic knowledge. The Academy’s Grand Benefactor is The Most Interesting Man in the World.Events/PR: Large scale satellite campuses were designed to be one-day spectacular events that brought the Academy experience to life and created word-of-mouth buzz. Attendees participated in courses like Falconry, Ninja Arts, and Body Flying.