Friday, April 1, 2011

Animation and Alcohol?

So Three olives walk into a bar... Oh wait.
Actually, the Three Olives Vodka has a new campaign based off of the old joke about three guys walking into a bar. I think the short advertisements are clever and fun, and really capture the brand's personality. So far, there are three animated clips on YouTube (for now) featuring cowboys, sugar daddies, and sportscasters. I found these videos from a post on AdRants, and though most of the comments on the post and videos were positive, there were quite a few expressing concern about the material and the fact that the ad was animated. Some of the comments were in regards to promoting an alcohol in an animation because it would appeal to children.
Despite this little gripe, the Three Olives website actually won't let you on unless you enter your birthday and are over 21 years old. If you type in a date thats over 21 years ago, you can get in though. Three Olives Vodka is a premium imported vodka from the U.K. and comes in over 15 different fun and colorful flavors, including Bubble(gum), Purple, Dude, Rootbeer and Triple Shot Expresso.

From the article on AdRants, "Explaining the campaign's approach, Proximo (parent company to Three Olives) Senior Vice President of Marketing Elwyn Gladstone said, 'It seems that all the fun has been taken out of vodka with virtually all brands scrambling for the same crowded, so-called 'luxury' positioning. The Three Olives brand is set apart from that stuffy niche because while we're seriously premium, we're also seriously fun.'"

The only problem that I can see with advertising such a fun brand of fruity and exotic flavors with little cartoons is that, yes, kids may be more attracted to it, but they won't be able to purchase it until they are 21 years old and I would say that the use of the videos to advertise the drink should be very successful to adults who want to go out and have fun when they drink.

Here are the links to the three animations.

What do you think about Three Olives Vodka advertising with animations?

1 comment:

  1. Loved this post! The commercials were great and I think I can relate to the idea of vodka being advertised as "stuffy." I think the idea is really interesting and the commercials were entertaining, but I can definitely see the worry of kids viewing something that looks so much like a cartoon. Although our laws prevent people from purchasing alcohol until they reach a certain age, we also have to think about the message sent to kids regarding issues like alcohol... and cigarettes. The Joe Camel campaign (and all on-TV advertising for tobacco products) was banned because of the messages kids were receiving about smoking. I just wonder if these commercials might possibly be able to be construed in the same way? I don't know though - because as an adult who is of age to consume alcohol, these ads definitely made me want to check this brand out.

    ReplyDelete