http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/business/media/ads-for-three-olives-vodka-imply-it-has-real-bite.html 2014-12-08 19:09:08 Ads Imply This Vodka Has a Real ‘Bite’ A Three Olives vodka campaign features the classic song “Werewolves of London” sung by a popular YouTube singer, Masha. === A spirits brand is seeking to stand out in a crowded category by replacing a famous face with a familiar figure of fiction. The brand, As for the new brand hero, it turns out that he is more of a monster-about-town than a man. The campaign uses a version of The Masha rendition, moodier and slower-paced than Zevon’s, is paired in the music video and commercials with film-noir atmosphere and posh settings. The director is This is not the first commercial work by Mr. Mandler; he has also directed The Via Agency is also handling the digital and social media aspects of the Three Olives campaign in addition to the creative tasks. It has been a busy time for Proximo. The Three Olives campaign is coming out four months after the company The music video and commercials for Three Olives are to appear on television; online, Although “the Clive Owen campaign was good, was successful,” says Elwyn Gladstone, senior vice president for marketing at Proximo in Jersey City, there could not be commercials to accompany the print ads because Mr. Owen preferred that the campaign be limited to print, digital and outdoor ads. “We wanted to do something on TV and he did not want to be on TV, which he said from the beginning,” Mr. Gladstone says. “So we took this as an opportunity to evolve the campaign into something more exciting, more engaging and a little more different.” “Television commercials are still incredibly powerful and effective,” he adds. “Younger consumers are looking at stuff digitally, but they’re also looking at TV.” Via came up with the idea of basing the campaign on “Werewolves of London,” Mr. Gladstone says, which appeals to him for a number of reasons. For one, “there’s something very powerful about music in spirits advertising,” Mr. Gladstone says, and starting off with a music video is “an interesting way to introduce the campaign and not make it overly ‘advertising-y.'” The original “Werewolves of London” is “a classic song,” he adds, and having it sung by Masha makes it “contemporary and relevant to younger consumers who may not be familiar” with the version by Zevon. “We looked at a few YouTube artists” as potential performers, Mr. Gladstone says, “and Masha’s just on the verge of being a big deal — and this might make her a big deal.” (Her debut album is scheduled to be released soon.) There was the additional attraction that “werewolves are very popular among younger consumers,” he adds. The music video starts with a glimpse from the night sky of London — it must be London, there’s Big Ben! -- and the words “Three Olives Presents Werewolves of London” superimposed on screen. And to make sure everyone realizes the setting is London, there are rain-slicked streets as well as fog. As Masha, clad in a cape with a hood, sings the song, a mysterious figure walks the evening. Viewers can see him as a hunky man as well as a scary werewolf; his dual nature is revealed when he passes a mirror, when his eyes begin to glow and when he bares his fangs at beautiful women. At the bar inside a club, a bartender is mixing Three Olives martinis; bottles of Three Olives appear on screen along with shots of martini glasses and shakers. At the end, there is a close-up of a giant moon and the hero is glimpsed in what seems to be his home, handing a woman a Three Olives martini. The commercials use Masha and her song and clips from the music video, along with additional material. In the In the “Silver?” he asks, to which she replies, “Platinum.” He responds, “Brilliant,” as they toast each other. In the As the woman takes a martini from him, she says, “I hear there’s a full moon tonight.” His eyes glow. Greg Smith, chief creative officer of the Via Agency, says he was familiar with Three Olives before the agency was chosen to produce the new campaign because “it used to be distributed out of Maine by a guy named Paul Coulombe,” whose White Rock Distilleries Three Olives grew robustly under Mr. Coulombe and that Competition in the flavored segment of the vodka market has intensified and the novelty value of flavors seems to be wearing off. “Flavored vodka has taken a big hit,” Mr. Gladstone says, “which comes from an oversaturation of flavor brands” along with the sudden, stunning sales success of a cinnamon-flavored whisky, Fireball. So a decision was made to focus the new campaign on the original, unflavored version of Three Olives. “A brand called Three Olives was built around the classic vodka martini,” Mr. Smith says, which many drinkers like to garnish with a trio of olives. (Others agree with Mame Dennis, Auntie Mame, who insisted that olives take up too much room in such a little glass.) “We also talked to Proximo last year about owning the British-ness” of the Three Olives brand, in a kind of “cool Britannia” way, Mr. Smith says, and the martini helps express that. In seeking to “create something more distinct and ownable,” he adds, the “Werewolves of London” concept was developed, which tells drinkers that Three Olives can “bring the wild side of you out.” The campaign enables the brand to still be “classic and premium,” Mr. Smith says, “and also a bit daring,” while the song “did a lot of heavy lifting” to establish the British atmosphere. “It all came together,” he adds. “Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best.” Early notices for the campaign are favorable. For example, The “Even seeing the wolf as a metaphor,” the article cautions, “the ads come a little close to objectifying women as prey.” Mr. Smith says the campaign is infused with an “otherworldliness” that has been ratified in the popular culture, as evidenced by how werewolves have “gone from horror to being sexy and alluring.” When it comes to monsters that are hot right now drinking Three Olives martinis, Mr. Smith does draw a line. “I can say it will never get to the zombie stage,” he says, laughing. “Zombies aren’t elegant.” ---------- If you like In Advertising, be sure to read the Advertising column that appears Monday through Friday in the Business Day section of The New York Times print edition and on