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It looks like Heineken pushed the price envelope for advertising with the female Robot campaign. More importantly, Heineken has pushed the envelope in creativity which is absolutely essential in an area where product differentiation is not easy.

Using a female robot with that contains beer that clones itself is a sure way of getting attention.

I can honestly say that I have picked up a case of Heineken just because of the advertisement (since a ‘Heine’ is not my preferred beer).

Some research on the topic of beer ads, show that beer is a very competitive industry where successful advertising camapaigns like that conducted by Red Stripe Beer has resulted in strong brand recognition. I know about the Red Stripe Beer brand although I have yet to find it in a store. The same applies to Carlton Draught which I think would be impossible/difficult to find in the USA.

Another point to note is that beer advertisements are targeted towards a male audience which leaves an opportunity for beer brands aimed at women. Some studies indicate that women consume 25% of all beer consumed in the US.

Take a look at a small sample of creative beer ads. from around the world.

The Heineken - Robo-chick does the Robot

Carlton Draught Beer

Red Stripe Beer - Ugly People

Stella Artois - Belgian’s Stole the Viking’s Beer

Pilsner Urquell - First Czech Motorcycle

Brahma Beer

Marca Bavaria - Best of Brazil since 1877

Moosehead Light beer - Girls Tanning

Sapporo - Japan

Singha Beer

Do you see a resemblance between English Record Producer and Songwriter Joe Meek and Bollywood star Aamir Khan?

I came upon this online identity verification service while trying to look at an “adult” video of the upcoming Harold & Kumar movie. Now, what struck me as being unique is that this service asks you for your first name, last name and zip code and using a list of government issued IDs figures out who you are and your age and provides access to a certain service.

The Integrity website claims to have a database of driver’s licenses and government issued IDs from 157 nations.  While this service may not seem to be too useful considering it is easy enough to bypass if you know the full name and zip code of anyone, it does have some appeal in terms of the social responsibility issues of online business. At some point we may see services like Integrity a basic requirement to conduct business to a restricted age group. It also makes me wonder how secure information is with the government of whichever country you belong to.