Stella Artois's new campaign will urge people to 'Buy a Lady a Drink'

What's been keeping Matt Damon busy lately? Stella Artois (but not in that way, silly).

He stars in the beer brand's new film from its 'BuyALadyADrink' campaign in collaboration with Water.org, where he asks viewers to help easily provide water to the women spending hours walking to water pumps in countries like ours, of course.

We asked two adwallis - Kavita Natarajan, account manager, WATConsult and Tripta Bhatia, senior copywriter, Grey Digital - for their opinion on the ad, and here's what they had to say.

Idea

Kavita Natarajan: The line 'Buy a lady a drink' may at first come across as tad frivolous, but the thought behind the campaign isn't. Bringing in focus a cause that affects people worldwide, given the category that the brand operates in, would not have been simple. Yet, it cuts through and hits you with its simple words.

Tripta Bhatia: Buying women drinks at a bar is pretty common but the idea of buying a lady a drink figuratively does have the potential to tug at the heartstrings.

Creative execution

Kavita Natarajan: The Matt Damon film is backed by other videos, stories of women echoing the challenges they face every day. Vast landscapes juxtaposed with emotion, the formula is pat. Yes, I would say it is quite formulaic.

Tripta Bhatia: The way I see it, the execution is pretty simple and straightforward - a super-hot Matt Damon urging people to buy drinks in order to help women not embark on long journeys to collect water.

Brand connect

Kavita Natarajan: At the end of the day, any communication is marketing communication. With brands world over bending backwards to build salience, Stella Artois is surely going to benefit with this campaign. Is it a 'in-your-face tear-jerker'? No. But the film does its job.

Tripta Bhatia: Any other brand could have supported this initiative. The only thing that connects the campaign to the brand is to 'Buy a Lady a Drink' or rather 'Buy a Lady a Stella'.

Brand recall



Kavita Natarajan: The brand doesn't shy away from the fact that it is an alcohol brand. Rather, it builds on that with 'Buy a lady a drink', stating it point blank that it isn't being hypocritical. And you get to buy that beautiful chalice in return for your contribution to the cause. Did you say recall?

Tripta Bhatia: Social impact messages are easily forgotten unless consumers see the brand dedicated towards a cause for a long time. The message is direct but will it stick? I don't think so.

Effectiveness of the commercial

Kavita Natarajan: Read a little more on the campaign, and you can find Stella's contribution to the issue. I'd say that is effectiveness.

Tripta Bhatia: It's great to see alcohol brands go the distance to support initiatives like these but I genuinely believe that the execution could have been more hard-hitting for it to be really effective .

BE's View

You've got Jason Bourne at your disposal. Do you even know what that means! He was presumed dead the last time we saw him. But he survived a near fatal jump into the watery depths of a filthy Hudson. And this is what you do with him? Send him on a leisurely stroll in what looks like LA's damp water ways?

The popular venue for many furious drag races and what not in Hollywood box-office busters. We know he can do plenty with a phonebook, but, hell, we don't want to hear him read from it. Yes, we know, the subject is a very serious one.

Not everyone has a fridge shelve packed with Evian in their homes. Most people have to earn their water, every day, in painful ways. So one can't exactly have the Amazing Damon going all Bournetastic in a cause related marketing campaign.

Even if it's for beer! But, for pint's sake, wouldn't it have served the cause and Damon's acting chops better if the telling wasn't lazy? A famous narrator so obviously dislocated from the very people whose story he must tell that it seems like Damon, who happens to be the co-founder of Water Org, was an afterthought in this video.

Perhaps it was a case of conflicting schedules. Bourne alone knows. Now, buy a lady a real drink.