Four men and a dog called ‘Digger’
Hollywood loves a remake and it seems Lion Nathan does too.
After the disappointing – and short-lived– ‘Build a Boat’ campaign for the brewer’s XXXX Gold brand, Lion Nathan will this weekend launch its new advertising campaign which sees a return to the XXXX Blokes and a dog concept…only with four new blokes, and presumably, a different dog.
Lion Nathan will this weekend unveil its latest television commercial for the second biggest selling beer in the country. Lion Nathan says the new campaign, entitled “Beach Shack”, “features a reinvigorated approach to the ‘four men and a dog’ format that XXXX GOLD fans know and love, whilst maintaining the focus on Aussie mateship and ingenuity for which the brand is famous.”
The ‘four men and a dog’ format refers to the long-running series of ads featuring “Jacko”, his dog and three mates that ran in Queensland for five years before going national in 2005. The format was killed off in late 2008 to make way for the ill-fated “Build a Boat” campaign.
The publicity accompanying the announcement says:
With Jacko and his crew enjoying their retirement, viewers will be introduced to a new group of mates – Brucey, Red, Robbo and Mick – and their dog, Digger. The new heroes typify the brand’s core values – living the good life and having a beer or two while reminiscing with good mates. It’s about time and space, activity without purpose and a good injection of sociable, larrikin humour.
Filmed at a quintessential, sun-drenched Australian location, the action centres around a mates’ weekend away and features a range of scenarios where the guys use a bit of grey matter to get around tricky problems – like how to keep a TV running without electricity or frying a fish without a frying pan.
Josh Gaudry, XXXX Marketing Manager, said, “This campaign introduces us to a new group of mates who typify the XXXX GOLD drinker – down-to-earth, loyal, humorous Aussies who enjoy nothing more than spending time together with a cold XXXX GOLD in hand. We’re confident that XXXX fans will identify with the new characters and be entertained by their adventures.”
BMF’s Executive Creative Director, Warren Brown, explains the new take on classsic XXXX advertising.
“XXXX GOLD has its heart in the concept of mates enjoying a few beers and a few laughs in relaxed surroundings – that’s why the Jacko campaign worked so well and ran for as long as it did. It was time to wave those guys goodbye but, with a new group of mates led by Brucey, the good times will continue and give XXXX drinkers plenty to laugh about in the future.”
The actor playing ‘Mick’, Michael Thomson, was chosen from over 1,000 hopefuls who answered a casting call issued by XXXX to find genuine fans to star in the campaign. “It was a bonus that we were able to cast a real Aussie bloke and XXXX GOLD fan in one of the roles,” said Josh Gaudry.
The first ads in the series will air on Sunday night, with further executions to be released later in the year.
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