MEDIA & MARKETING:Hiring economists might just be the way to go for a struggling pub trade

WITH ALL his doom and gloom, at times David McWilliams would turn you to drink. So it’s a neat fit that cider brand Bulmers has turned to the pundit to front its new advertising commercial which goes on air shortly.

Ad agency Young Euro RSCG declined to divulge McWilliams’s fee, beyond noting that he cost less than Bill Clinton, whom they also considered.

The campaign is built around the tagline “doing our bit” and is intended to reflect the prevailing mood and circumstances of the people of Ireland. Young’s managing director Brian Hayes explains: “David has very strong views on what’s needed to get the economy up and running again so we felt that his association ties in very well with the theme of our campaign. Our research showed that a simple idea with very strong nationalistic appeal would be well received.”

If the McWilliams commercial is well received, ad agencies will be scrambling to see what other celebrity economists they can rope in to market drinks brands. Though he’s quite an abstemious chap, it’s possible that an endorsement from Constantin Gurdgiev would benefit Smirnoff vodka, though consumers might doubt that someone could speak so fast after a couple of shorts.

As a charter member of the Doheny Nesbitt school of economics, Colm McCarthy is a natural fit for an association with Guinness stout. Now that he’s left academia for the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan might be just the man to plug a quality Merlot, while TCD’s Brian Lucey could be a great match for Red Bull.

Dressed in jeans tucked into a pair of green wellies, the Bulmers advertisement shows McWilliams addressing orchard workers with worthy statements about the difficult times facing the country, asking the workers to imagine Ireland as a big orchard and calling for ideas to fix the orchard/Ireland’s problems.

The spot features characters used in previous Bulmers commercials and is wryly humorous. It is so quintessentially Irish that one cannot imagine a London agency coming up with the same script. The ad closes with a shot of McWilliams enjoying his pint of Bulmers at the bar. “Are you doing your bit Mr McWilliams?” asks one of the workers. “I certainly am,” replies the economist. “Then mine’s a Bulmers please.”

Cue a somewhat reluctant McWilliams turning to the barman to order pints while a model tractor with a sail fixed to the bonnet rolls into the frame.

Bulmers had a previous stab at a “doing our bit” commercial in 2009 when the company rolled out an advertisement announcing a cut in the price of a pint bottle in pubs. Not all pub owners cut the price they charged for the bottled cider even though their supplies were costing less. The result was angry consumers calling radio talk shows to complain.

Brian Yerkes, a Florida creative who was visiting Ireland at the time, observed in his blog: “Why has this marketing gone wrong? The problem is that Bulmers the brand wants to be seen as lowering their prices and doing something good for the market.

“The fact that they thought that the consumer would receive these lower prices is extremely naive and quite foolish. In marketing, you can come up with all the great ideas you want. But if there is no business logic or pragmatic thinking behind it, you can end up doing more harm than good.”

With the pub trade hammered by the downturn, sales of Bulmers have been under pressure, with volumes declining 2.4 per cent last year and net revenue down by 7 per cent. However, the company improved its profit margin to 44 per cent by reducing costs through staff and pay cuts.

The “doing our bit” tagline was unveiled to Bulmers staff in February and the commercial reflects the reality in the company. Management asked staff to pin ideas for improving operations on a “suggestion tree”. So far ideas include using double-sided printers, car-sharing and reducing breakages on the bottling line, according to the advertising agency.

Apart from the ad campaign, the agency has devised a number of initiatives such as the planting of 127,000 trees in Clonmel and hosting a music festival later in the summer which it hopes will feed goodwill toward the brand and thus increase sales.

Bulmers is owned by CC plc which has shifted away from its premium pricing strategy for the brand. Last year, marketing investment in Bulmers was cut to fund what it calls “an obvious need for some price support in the off trade”. However, it claims the move has not been to the detriment of the brand health.