Review: Tooheys, ‘The Beer Economy’

"How many cases is that, Nan?"

Client: Lion Nathan
Title: ‘The Beer Economy’
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi

There has always been a battle between aspirational marketing and discovering a relatable truth. Obviously, different approaches work for different products (it would be a nightmare presenting Vegemite/Vita-Weat worms as high-end dining or trying to get consumers to emotionally identify with a Lexus), but one consumable is so vital to the state of our nation that almost every approach has been attempted: beer.

Imports routinely take the ‘high’ road, promising success in all manner of masculine diversions: girls (likely dark and mysterious), sports (too often that poofter/wog/sheila sport of soccer), and cars (that you aren’t allowed to drive while enjoying your beer anyway). To agencies shilling boutique European, South American and Japanese brews, these things equal sophistication and a ticket to a better life. The exception proving the rule was Stella Artois’ provincial, authentic images in the “as sophisticated as a beer can get” campaign.

Local beers also promise chicks, footy and cars, but they aim for reality. The main characters are lovable losers and the ads present an amber drop that will make any bloke blokier. VB’s recent ‘The Regulars’ TVCs aim right for the below-average Aussie, sadly abandoning the legendary “hard work = the best cold beer” ethic. But Saatchi & Saatchi’s new Tooheys campaign for ‘The Beer Economy’ is the most inspired angle yet, burrowing deep into the psyche of the Australian male, for whom beer is currency.

You ever helped someone move house? That’s a case. Mowing someone’s lawn, a six-pack. Changing a lightbulb for your nan –  five cases, apparently. Ten cases for helping an injured friend.

This idea is so familiar, not necessarily because it’s a straight recycle of Saatchi’s NZ campaign for Monteith’s, but because it is so true. The concept is so “why didn’t we think of that” genius that we’ll overlook the weak smut and the effort to rename what everyone knows as a ‘slab’.

House-moving is the prime market, but the idea is infinitely expandable, making for a delightful parlour game. What’s the penalty, in liquor, for bogarting the last slice of pizza, or usurping someone’s position at work, or shaving your buddy’s dog? What are the costs, in liquor, of innumerable favours?

This is the idea behind the digital part of the campaign, where Tooheys will advise blokes on the going rates for favours, but it didn’t kick off last Sunday as promised (depending on the time you click that link).

The biggest issue with this as a branding exercise is that Tooheys can’t really own the idea. The concept of the beer economy is part of the collective unconscious of half-conscious boozers. In the real world, if a Tooheys New counts as one unit of currency, Coopers would be one and a half, imports would count for two, and if you fucked up almightily (into “can you lend me your wife for a convoluted romantic comedy plotline” territory) we can get into Islay malts.

After the vexing Toohey Extra Dry Gen Y-oriented ’6 Beers Of Separation’ project and the Python-esque Tooheys New ‘For the Love Of Beer’ collage ads, this should certainly get Lion Nathan some of the right kind of attention. It’s a beautifully simple idea. But it will sell the category far better than their product.

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