After ditching Jack Dee as its brand spokesman over 5 years ago, the makers of John Smith's bitter returned to the comedy circuit for a £20 million advertising campaign starring the up-and-coming stand-up Peter Kay. He is intertextual because he is well known through his comedy programs such as Phoenix Nights. Scottish Courage ended its contract with the old comic (Jack Dee) in 1998 saying John Smith's was so famous it no longer needed a celebrity to endorse it. Instead, the brewer came up with "No-nonsense man,” a cardboard cut-out of an “ordinary bloke” shown sipping a pint of John Smith's on a deck chair and in his local pub. Then came they’re biggest and most recent campaign, the biggest ever for the brand, it will continue with the gimmick-free approach for which John Smith's has become famous – Peter Kay. Here are three of the six adverts made from the recent John Smith’s campaign: “Ave It,” “Wardrobe Monsters” and “Top Bombing.” The other three successful adverts that I will not be looking at were: “Snooker,” “Showstopper” and the most recent advert shown on television from John Smith’s, “Doorstep Challenge.”
The first ad, titled "Ave It,” had the narrative opening on a muddy recreation ground with a group of young football players showing off/practising their "keepy uppy" skills. After each individual demonstration, the player effortlessly passes the ball to a colleague keeping it off the ground, until it reaches the solid figure of Peter Kay. He then promptly boots the ball far away into a neighbouring garden whilst saying “Ave it!” The ad closes as Peter Kay self-congratulates himself for a moment saying “oh yes”, then opts for a can of John Smith's over the traditional half-time oranges and the John Smith’s slogan “No Nonsense” appears. This advert clearly represents Peter Kay as a laid back individual as the players before him had been doing all that fancy footwork and he just trumps in and wellies it totally uncontrolled, and he is also proud of himself. He represents himself by the way he speaks and the way he chooses the beer over the oranges is clearly to show the whole idea of a “no nonsense” lifestyle. The advert is of a sporting genre, which shows us that the intended audience is probably for men above 18.
The next John Smith’s advert I looked at was one called “Wardrobe Monsters.” The advert opens with two couples eating together in a restaurant laughing (laid back), Peter Kay being one of the male partners. His mobile phone rings and answers it to find that it’s the babysitter looking after his daughter. His daughter, “Britney,” speaks to him on the phone and informs him that she is having nightmares about the wardrobe monsters. He tells her, “there’s no such thing as wardrobe monsters, it’s the burglars that brake in through the window that’s you want to be worried about.” He then ironically says “sweet dreams” to his daughter than asks for two more beers from the bar without even realising what he has said to his daughter, showing his laid back approach to life. He takes a sip of his pint, then realises that they are all starring at him and says “what?” Also showing he was being serious about the way he replied to his daughter but comedian towards the audience at the same time. The final image is of a pint of John Smith’s and as before its slogan “No Nonsense,” summing up the whole point of the advert. This advert probably appeals to both male and female audiences as it is concentrating on the non-seriousness of Peter Kay’s ideas towards parenthood.
The final John Smith’s advert I looked at from its most recent campaign is entitled “Top Bombing.” The advert starts in the scene of some sort of diving event e.g. Olympics. Everything comes across to be authentic as we see real diving platforms and pools, a commentator expressing his feelings on the dives, a voice in the background telling the type of dive and judges score, action replays of the dives, and also diagetic sounds e.g. jumping off platforms and the diver hitting the water. First we see a diver from Australia, “Darren Croll.” He does a spectacular dive involving lots of twists and turns. The commentator says, “Oh that’s a good dive!” Next there is a diver from Canada, “Petit.” He also does an amazing dive consisting of lots of summersaults, the commentator says “oh even better!” Then he says, “now the favourite John Smith for Great Britain.” We then see the image of Peter Kay standing on the platform with his hands in his pockets acting like its nothing to be in the competition. We briefly hear the speaker in the background say what he is about to do, “a running bomb.” Peter Kay throws himself off the platform, making the water splash everywhere, even over the judges. The commentator then says, “oh terrific the crowd love it, and so do the judges!” He says this as the speaker reads out all of his scores as 10, beating the other two divers by a lot. The commentator finishes by saying, “top bombing!” Peter Kay climbs up the swimming pool ladder to get out and exposes the top of his bottom and waves to the crowd. Once again showing how laid back and proud he is of his lifestyle. Also as in the other adverts there is an image of a pint of John Smith’s beer and the slogan “No Nonsense,” supporting the idea of the whole advert. This advert would have been aimed at anyone 18+ as it is mainly just mocking the fact that he beat these extremely hard dives by doing a “running bomb,” which is effortless.
To maximise the impact of the investment, Scottish Courage together with Media Vest developed a focused TV buying strategy. A high percentage of the advertising was placed in and around mainly sports programming on the terrestrial channels e.g. Cricket on 4, World Cup and Grand Prix on ITV1, and the various Sky Sports channels. Sports programming offered a good fit with existing John Smith’s drinkers TV viewing patterns. John Smith’s is involved in a lot of horse racing advertising at the races. John Smith's association with racing dates back to 1959 when the brewer's Magnet Ale became the first commercial sponsor in flat racing, entering into an enduring partnership with the nearby racecourse at York. Now re-titled the John Smith's Cup, it is the longest-established flat race sponsorship in Britain. John Smith was just 24 years of age when he purchased a run down brew house in Tadcaster in 1847 - eight years after a horse called Lottery had won the first ever Grand National at Aintree - beginning a successful brewing heritage that has spanned more than one and a half centuries. John Smith's current list of sponsored races include: The John Smith's Cup at York; The John Smith's Northumberland Plate; The John Smith's Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter and The John Smith's Stakes at Newbury. The company has a long and successful track record in sports and arts sponsorship including, in the present day: The Foster's British Grand Prix; Kronenbourg 1664 Official Beer of the Open Golf Tournament; The John Smith's Cup at York; Scrumpy Jack official drink of the English Cricket Team and Beck's Futures at the ICA. It also fitted well with potential John Smith’s drinkers viewing habits (lager drinkers with a “no nonsense” attitude to life). The strategy provided John Smith’s a dominant share of voice within the relevant sports programming context. Research shows that John Smith's enduring association with a “no nonsense” attitude plays a big part in its appeal to consumers and everything about Peter's character reflects this. John Smith’s is to sponsor the Grand National meeting in a new three-year multi-million pound title sponsorship agreement. The very first John Smith's Grand National meeting will take place on Thursday 7th - Saturday 9th April 2005. The Grand National is the World's most famous race, broadcast in over 140 countries with an estimated audience of over 600 million viewers. The three-day meeting attracts 150,000 race goers. This just goes to show the amount of media coverage John Smith’s advertising receives.
There appears to be a clear understanding of what the advertising is saying about the John Smith’s brand shown by all the awards won. This has built over the course of the campaign to date. Endorsement of the statement “John Smith’s is a humorous and down to earth brand” is just one example. Attribution of image statements like ‘is a brand for people like me’ have increased amongst all age groups. The Peter Kay campaign created massive awareness. It successfully communicated the brand’s “no nonsense” positioning in a way that people could really engage with. As a result people feel closer to the brand, which ultimately has had a positive impact on sales.
The John Smiths campaign with Peter Kay has achieved massively considering it is only a piece of advertising for a type of ale. The TV commercials have been talked about in offices and pubs across the country, and sayings such as “Ave it” have entered everyday conversation and discussion. The latest “No Nonsense” campaign has carried on a strong tradition of memorable and highly successful John Smiths TV advertising. The advertising has resulted in increased awareness and sales. It also won a number of awards including the Creative Circle and Campaign magazine’s Campaign of the Year 2002. The judges described the advertising as “a brilliant campaign that has entered people’s everyday lives while significantly boosting sales and winning fans, plaudits and column inches galore in the process.”
