Southern Comfort launches ‘As comfortable as you are’ campaign via Naked Comms, Sydney
Southern Comfort Australia has launched its latest campaign through Naked Communications Sydney.
The campaign will be led by a 60 second film launched in cinema and digital that brings the brand’s evolved idea of ‘as comfortable as you are’ to life, and shows a hero character (Chester) who is most comfortable when he’s enthusiastically singing Spandau Ballet’s hit song ‘True’ in the middle of his local pub.
Says Darren West, marketing manager North American whiskeys and growth brands at Brown-Forman: “At Southern Comfort we have always believed that the feeling of ‘comfort’ is everything; it’s embedded in our brand DNA and ultimately our name. We wanted to show what our sort of comfort is all about – the comfort of being able to just be yourself with your friends. That’s what our new hero Chester does such a good job of; he’s warm, approachable and loveable. The whole spot is down to earth, relatable and unpretentious – just like Southern Comfort.”
Says Jon Burden, executive creative director at Naked Communications: “We had a lot of fun working with the Southern Comfort team on this project, and rekindled many of the team’s love for cheesy 80’s music. The truth is every group of friends has a character who loves to belt out a classic ballad from time to time and generally their friends love them for it. We wanted to celebrate these people, and our hero Chester does them proud. He may not be pitch perfect, but he’s comfortable with his skills and he wants to share them.”
As part of the campaign, Southern Comfort is also partnering with comedians and influencers to talk about their own #SoComfortable moments as well as working with leading mixologists to create their own signature drinks.
Brown-Forman Australia
Marketing Manager NAW & Growth Brands – Darren West
Portfolio and Planning Insights Manager – Rachel Parker
eCommerce and Digital Manager – Dani Hepperlin
Brand and Insights Business Manager – Amanda Fowler
Agency: Naked Communications Sydney
Managing Director – Tim Kirby
Executive Creative Director – Jon Burden
Creative Director – Dave Ladd
Art Director – Daniel Davison
Copywriter – Ashley Wilding
Producer – Mandy Payne
Account Director – Helen Adams
Production: Rabbit
Director – Jesse James
Producer – Greg Fyson
Post production – Rabbit/Cutting Edge
Sound – Rumble
Media agency: Starcom
National Director Content, Social & Mobile Experiences – Patrick Whitnall
Senior Strategist – Sophia Poulten
Account Director – Anthony Thomas
Account Manager, Content, Social & Mobile Experiences – Irene Sarris
44 Comments
HAhahaha Oath.
Decent.
I like it.
Onya Jesse.
The honourable golden chief, very funny
Why don’t they just run the overseas executions? They much better. This is pretty solid though.
Nice one JJ
Yeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaa!! Love it JJ & co!
whoa, well done in turning a campaign with real swagger into this utter cringefest. Also loving the double logo at the end.
Nice work lads.
Amazing!!!
Excruciating, both in concept and execution. Of course it’s a difficult marketing problem to sell this pukeworthy drink, to identify the target market and to correctly pitch the advertising at…who, exactly?
But does that excuse the decades of painful attempts?
This time they’ve gone for a cringeworthy pun in a feeble attempt at branding. Any other cues in this commercial are either so subtle – or so obviously a market-mirroring checklist – that you end up with 60 seconds that just can’t pass quickly enough. Bearded Lumbersexual – check. Casual Flannelette Guy – check. Sociable mixed gender environment – check.
Just my impartial opinion of course.
The dilemma in how to define and sell this drink is not new It was summed up beautifully quite a few years ago in a 24 sheet poster . Alongside a large packshot, the line read “It tastes like …ummm.” Some wag with a spray can had scrawled the letter c before the …ummm.
Blazin a thick baseball bat to this one J-Bone. Get em.
It’s much easier to feel comfortable with this bloke singing badly in a bar than with that weird dj character who kept jerking about til all hours in one of their last concepts.
Rubbish, run the overseas creative.
he’s so pissed he’ll drink anything. is that the idea?
Peaked with Gaytime.
Everything about this spot is flat. The direction, the talent, the lighting, the performance. It’s also another tired idea, the only good thing in it is the product.
@ Old CD guy.
I kind of get the sense you haven’t seen this Southern Comfort ad which launched the campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygeWsoYYMuQ
Seems to be an awful lot of comments from the agency on here.
The global version is terrific. The local version is lame.
If you cant beat the overseas work. Run the overseas work.
The irony in this.. is that all of you are too negative and sadly jealouse to actually see the positivity in Sydney being given a role on a global campaign. Looks like you’re all sitting there adapting work from another agency or doing nothing that will get you a better job.
Not only did you not see the positive side of this, but also the fact that consumers will love this. But no.. you chose to decide to be sad bastards.
Keep going though.. its the only thing that will make you feel better about the shit work you’re doing.
You’re right reality we’re all secretly jealous of this Grand Prix winning TV spot. Well done guys it’s fucking amazing.
Mac attack killing it, fuck the haters
Granted the alcohol category has been creatively flat for a while now, but this is pretty good in comparison.
They gave the local agency a shot instead of running the overseas work which is more than they have done in the past. It’s a big ask, but it would have been an achievement to have at least matched that work. In every W&K spot you enjoy watching the quirks of the character who is comfortable in their own skin. In this one I feel embarassed for him. It’s hard to watch, and it doesn’t work as a spot. There were probably better scripts that weren’t bought, but for the sake of the local industry it would have been great to make something that showed we can match it with the big boys.
…..with the negative comments. The US versions had an irreverence and light touch. This is heavy handed, poorly cast and dull. If you like this, fuck off.
OK so I am new to the field but this whole campaign, international and Australian, feels flat to me; i don’t get/feel the connection between Southern Comfort and being comfortable in one’s own skin- is that really their brand?
Nice one, Jess (USB USB) x The Ghost
THIS IS TRULY LAME.
Putting aside the new AUS ad for the minute…
I always loved the international ad on a simple level.
And the strategy seemed VERY interesting – in the U.S. context it seems to be picking out exactly the kind of trailer trash that drink S.C. and then mirroring back their attitude of essentially ‘not giving a shit’, but playing it back romantically as, I’m so cool I don’t care. I’m happy in my own skin.
But the other business part of me wonders whether that audience would really buy into that? May be in reality, while the guy seems super cool to me, it’s too close to the bone and would be off putting to the real audience. Perhaps in reality they would aspire to something superficially way above that.
The point being I’d love to know, firstly, who do they consider their audience and, secondly, what that ad do for sales figures in the U.S.
Now, I’ll leave you all to argue about this ad…
You guys suck. Punters will love this. It’s funny. Get over yourselves. I hate you all
I can imagine that if you drink Southern Comfort your mates have been heaping shit on you for years. If you keep drinking it, you don’t care what they think. You are “comfortable”. Just like the agency who made this work. They don’t give a shit what you think. They are “comfortable”.
Homage to the ordinary
I’m cringing uncomfortably.
Yep, no runner up prizes in advertising, it’s brutal… the ad is ok, but not worth PR-ing. The overseas work is better for this brand, no one can really dispute that. Of course it had a lot more money & resources behind it. But our work needs to stand on the international stage, not just support it cos the agency is local.
as soon as you add the friends, the idea falls apart. what was truly smart and glorious about the w+k work is it is one person standing for themselves and exactly who they are….who ever decided ‘take the feel of the over seas ads but he has to be with “mates” ‘ killed this idea from the gate…. i guarantee most would rather have a drink with the singular characters from the original work than gary-mainstream in this spot.
embarrassing …. really
People think you can just take an idea and slightly change it to be more mainstream and everything will be fine, but actually ideas are incredibly fragile.
You take the original ad then ‘just make the guy a bit younger”, “just make him not so fat”, then it’s “he can’t have a mullet”, “he’ll need mates around him because otherwise he’s a loner”, “I know he’s got to be quirky but what about something we can all relate to…, like a ‘guilty pleasure’ song”.
…And you end up with a different animal entirely. I wouldn’t say this feels AT ALL like the international campaign.
i fell like i’ve just seen the ad version of a fake polo shirt
This sucks!
No friends.
A billion times more captivating and memorable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUKEV0HCUYU
a karaoke version of the weiden stuff
I’ve come around. All hail the Golden Chief!
I recently bought a bottle of Southern comfort in the 200ml plastic bottle. Firstly finding it now in plastic was dissapointing and and an abomination to a once fine drink. Secondly it is not the drink I use to enjoy anymore, if its being made here in Aust my opinion is something is N.Q.R.this drink sadly tasted terrible I tipped the whole bottle down the sink and I would never do that it was thicker and with sickly taste of orange. Even the smell was completely different I have been a Southern Comfort drinker from the age of 21 I am now 50, Im finished no more for me if I cant get the real deal.