AdNews: Carlton Draught's 'Made From Beer' retrospective

Carlton Draught 'Big Ad' commercial.

The release of Carlton Draught’s ‘Beer Chase’ commercial reminded us of all the gems produced by the brand and the barriers it stormed through along the way.

When the ‘Made From Beer’ positioning was conceived almost a decade ago, Carlton Draught was faced with an interesting dilemma. It wanted to expand beyond its loyal base in Victoria and capture the national market, particularly in NSW. To counter all the high-falutin claims made by the burgeoning craft and imported beer market, the team focused on the ethos that Carlton Draught was the beer that had nothing to prove.

Carlton United Brewers (CUB) general manager of marketing Andrew Meldrum was part of the original team at the conception stage of ‘Made From Beer’. “It was a take-down of all the bullshit in beer advertising,” Meldrum told AdNews. “We wanted to be brutally honest about where we’re from and we kept coming back to the fact that it’s a great beer with an unquestioned heritage so it doesn’t need to say anything.”

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne executive creative director Ant Keogh and former DDB Melbourne executive creative director Grant Rutherford were the creative team at George Patterson Y&R Melbourne who developed the idea with Meldrum and CUB.

“At the time in Australia, the ad industry found it hard to take the piss out of itself and the ad was saying things we shouldn’t have been saying. When you have a combination of creative communications and the sales force moving into those other untapped markets, you have a big chance of success,” Rutherford said.

According to Meldrum, the initial ‘Made From Beer’ campaigns had a large impact on the successful national expansion of Carlton Draught.

Take a trip down memory lane and vote below on your favourite.

NO EXPLANATIONS (2003)
The very first instalment in the series, ‘No Explanations’ set up the droll tone the brand would embark on with its refreshing, no-bullshit approach to beer advertising.

CANOES (2004)
Inspired by the absurdity of corporate excess, the ad mocked alpha males and their ‘canoes’. It positioned the brand as an antithesis to pretentious, overgrown frat boys in fat ties.