CARLTON DRAUGHT | Slow Mo | 2011
The Too-Beautiful Moments of Men Doing Stupid Things / CARLTON DRAUGHT "Slow Mo"
Set to Puccini's grand opera, the ad shows men's ridiculous moments at the pub unfolding in extreme slow motion. A peanut flies out of someone's mouth. A backside lands on a bar stool. It's all so beautiful that you can't stop laughing.
The problem
Carlton Draught's "Made From Beer" series was known for poking fun at the pretentious claims of designer beers. In the early 2010s, slow-motion footage shot with Phantom ultra-high-speed cameras was a big trend in advertising. At a time when many ads used slow motion to look "beautiful" and "dramatic," Carlton Draught had just ended its previous campaign, "Tingle," and was looking for its next move.
The insight
Ant Keogh, ECD at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, explained it this way: "Slow motion had always been used for beautiful footage. We wanted to ride that trend, but flip the usual beautiful imagery on its head and focus instead on men and their stupid behavior—flawed, wonderful men." In other words, the core idea was to "misuse" slow motion. An ordinary night at the pub—darts, spilled beer—becomes, through slow-motion treatment, something as momentous as a scene from a movie.
The idea
The ad was shot with two Photron SA1 SD high-speed cameras capable of filming from 25fps up to 9000fps. Scenes were captured at speeds ranging from 500 to 9000fps, catching beautiful (and ridiculous) details—a bit of peanut hitting a friend's cheek, the ripple as a ample backside lands on a bar stool. It was filmed at several pubs around Sydney, showing beer being poured and people dancing, celebrating, and spilling their drinks, all in extreme slow motion. The music is an adaptation of Puccini's "Nessun Dorma," with new lyrics about men looking better in slow motion, heightening the grand parody effect. Directed by Paul Middleditch and produced by Plaza Films.
What happened
The ad won a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions 2011. It was also shortlisted in the Cinematography category at the Clio Awards 2011. Opinions within the industry were divided, but many praised it as "the ad of the year." Responses included comments like "the first Australian beer ad that's made me laugh out loud in years" and "a funny idea executed perfectly."
Afterthought
Taking slow motion—a technique meant to make things look beautiful—and pointing it at the least suitable subject imaginable: drunk men at a pub. The sheer force of that contrarian move is something else. The contrast between Puccini's grandeur and a jiggling backside. A moment where laughter and beauty live side by side. Carlton Draught's "Made From Beer" series has always gotten at the true essence of beer—unpretentious, fun, just there—by poking fun at advertising's usual conventions. This is part of that same lineage: wonderfully stupid, and wonderfully beautiful.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2011
