Were you as bemused as I was to read the Ad Age article this week about the venerable "brown spirit" Canadian Club and its new campaign to make their brand cool and relevant again? The print ads aim for what Ad Age calls "shock value" (really?!) by showing shots of fifties/sixties era men "partaying" with gals sporting bouffants and short skirts. The headline reads, "Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First." Ooh, how shocking! You mean dad liked girls, dated and even had sex back then?!

The campaign tagline is, "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It." Yep, and he probably had short ones before dinner and tall ones after dinner, likely mixed with soda or ginger ale. That was cool fifty or so years ago when Cadillacs were THE aspirational car brand and the Oldsmobile marque was renowned for its technology — instead of just being dead. But that was then, and it certainly is not now.

Does Beam Global Wine & Spirits, US importer of Canadian Club, really think that young (or at least youngish) guys today are going to similarly embrace this particular brand of Canadian whiskey — or any Canadian whiskey for that matter? And, will the fact that dear old dad quaffed it back in the day (when he actually had hair) influence a new generation of Canadian Club drinkers in 2007 and beyond?

What do you think? I seriously doubt it. Now I know that Canadian Club can point to the relative success of Crown Royal in the US, saying, "if they can do it, we can, too." True to a point. However, Crown Royal has some other things going for it. First, it has a truly iconic bottle (it’s classy in a 1950’s, Middle America kind of way) that comes swathed in an even swankier blue velvet sleeve. And, Crown Royal’s marketers have been pretty aggressive in the past few years, including a Nascar sponsorship. What have you heard from Canadian Club before this new campaign?

I am also aware that other "brown spirits" have been successful in a clear booze world. For example, American whiskey brands have successfully pushed their USA heritage and classic "guy" appeal (Jim Beam and Jack Daniels come to mind). The single vat, upscale bourbon market has been pretty hot in recent years, and Maker’s Mark (a mostly ordinary Kentucky bourbon) has done a brilliant job of creating a brand by featuring the president of the distillery in the ads to tout the spirit’s quality, and highlighting its own iconic bottle (you know, the one with the fake red sealing wax covering the neck).

Canadian Club has none of these assets. Canadian whiskey itself falls in between the American heritage iconography that bourbon and sour mash whiskeys can leverage, and the imported mystique of Scotch or Cognac. Canadian has never really been known as a sipping whiskey (you almost always mix it) and it definitely is not hip (like high end vodka or tequila). It also does not have a popular cocktail to resuscitate it (like the mojito did for rum) or the classic martini did for gin (always a second to vodka, gin is now very trendy among young cocktail aficionados).

So, what is Canadian Club to do? I applaud them for finally getting serious in their marketing of the brand. But, I really don’t see this new ad strategy working. Instead, I would shift the big media spend to seed the Canadian Club brand "virally" with the right influencers. These include some of the mixologists who have become rock stars in the cocktail world (people like Dale DeGroff). Get them to create new drinks using Canadian Club, or reinvent/reintroduce classic cocktails using the spirit (e.g., push the Canadian whiskey version of the trendy Manhattan, which uses rye or bourbon as its base).

Fifties and sixties fashion is also hot right now (the AMC show "Mad Men" is clearly inspiration for the new Canadian Club print campaign), and that presents a host of interesting viral and experiential marketing opportunities. There are a number of very hot fashion brands that are currently channeling the Mid-Twentieth Century design aesthetic (like Thom Browne on the high/luxury end and Band of Outsiders in the more affordable category), and Canadian Club should be looking for ways to partner with them and tap their brand equity and growing influence. I could also see Canadian Club sponsoring a Michael Buble tour and/or customer events. Buble, the Canadian cabaret singer who broke out to be a global sensation, has that Frank Sinatra/Rat Pack cool that would align very nicely with a traditional brand like Canadian Club.

I suspect Canadian Club’s marketers are considering ideas like the ones outlined above, and no doubt much better ones. That said, I still think the initial instinct to drive the campaign through an all too obvious print strategy is wrong and ultimately will come up short for the brand. The fact is, if you want to make something cool, the last thing you want to do is telegraph that fact. Real coolness comes from association and authenticity, which Canadian Club actually has plenty to spare. (BTW, I would be tapping into the "Club" part of the name…I think there is a lot of potential in the notion of CC drinkers being part of a "Club.")

Instead of trying too hard by claiming that dad drank the stuff (when dad was cool), I would associate the Canadian Club brand with people, ideas and trends that are legitimately and authentically cool today. Let the whole thing happen more naturally and organically instead of trying to wear a badge that says, "I’m a hipster and you also can be if you drink Canadian Club." It’s doubtful that too many guys — or gals — are going to buy that pitch today.

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