Finnegans Radio Ads

These St. Patrick’s Day radio ads for Finnegans Irish Amber are gut-busting, laugh-to-tears hilarious. A wee bit irreverent? Yes, absolutely. They start out “blessed are those who drink Finnegans,” and then it’s all down hill from there. But if you can make it through the sacrilege and the thick Irish brogue, you’re in for a fun 60 seconds.

Now I’d like to point out that I’m not endorsing this product in anyway. To tell the truth, I don’t even drink. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more known as the Mormon Church), I live by the Word of Wisdom: a law of health that prohibits consumption of alcohol, coffee, tea and illicit drugs.

But I also recognize as well as anyone that beer (or in this case, ale) commercials are some of the funniest out there. So for me, this is all about the brilliance of the ad’s writing, music and voice talent—not the beverage. In fact, I have a brother that served a mission for our Church in Ireland and he can attest to how true these are to the Irish culture.

That said, onto the ads.

“House”

“Karate”

“Mechanical Bull”

I’d like to emphasize an interesting strategy behind this concept (besides the fact that “Finnegan’s donates all its profits to charity”). Finnegan’s is actually calling attention to the obvious inebriating effects of their brew; something I’ve never seen in any alcoholic drink’s ads. It’s not glamorous, but it’s honest—and in this case, hysterical.

For once, an alcoholic beverage company is willing to own up to what everyone knows in the first place: if you drink enough of the stuff, you’re going to get sloshed. You have to hand it to them for being willing to tackle the issue at all—even if they’re just trying to sell more of it, not warn against its adverse consequences.

And besides, you have to give credit to any ad that can get away with saying “karate potion” or “domicile”—no matter what the context.

By the way, I found these on the 2008 Radio-Mercury Awards Finalists list (the highest award in radio advertising).

BJ Lawson Wins Primary Race in NC!

Congrats to BJ Lawson for defeating his mudslinging primary opponent, Augustus Cho! The final tally? A landslide: 71 percent to 29 percent.

And while I’m basking in the splendor of this victory, I’d like to mention a creative (and brilliant) marketing move that Lawson employed during his primary contest. He and his supporters gave away 10,000 copies of the U.S. Constitution. Think about that for a moment. Rather than his supporters just spitting out the obligatory “vote for Lawson” and offering some tired, seen-it-a-thousand-times-before flyer, imagine them asking you, “would you like a free copy of the Constitution?” What a fresh, emotionally-gripping proposition! No matter what party you belong to, such a unique gesture would at least make you think twice before giving your normal, preprogrammed rejection—unless you’re a red-blooded communist, of course.

Another benefit: He’s creating a great brand for himself. Now, when people hear Lawson, they think Constitution. Not a bad association.

And on top of that, this focuses his efforts on educating the people, not pandering to the beauty-contest politics that we’re all so used to. I’m guessing that out of the 10,000 people who accepted a copy, at least 90% of them had never read our nation’s founding document front to back in their lives. And even if they still haven’t, I think it’s campaign money well spent.

So as the Republican Party’s nominee, Lawson is now poised to take on Rep. David Price—the stale, spend-o-matic, 22-years-in-office-too-many embodiment of federal government gone wrong.

For the general election in November, he’s shooting to give out 100,000 Constitutions! It’s time that we the people learn exactly what it is that comes after…“We the people…”

Here’s a nice video his supporters put together for him.