The Vette Barn - Dos Equis Makes Its Case for Its New ‘Most Interesting Man’

I'd wager there was epic discussion in the Dos Equis boardroom over this!

Reminds me of when Coca Cola monkeyed with their recipe, years ago.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/bu...-man.html?_r=0

FOR nearly a decade, Dos Equis has advertised its beer through a pitchman known as the “Most Interesting Man in the World.”

Typically clad in a white button-down shirt and black blazer, the bearded, gray-haired gentleman would be shown in commercials bench-pressing chairs holding nurses or doing handstands on a horse while a narrator dryly delivered hyperbolic testaments to his greatness. “His charm is so contagious, vaccines have been created for it,” one said. “If he were to pat you on the back, you would list it on your résumé,” went another.

The campaign and its witty lines have been a big success, helping to send sales of Dos Equis soaring since 2007 and making a star out of the most interesting man himself, a 77-year-old actor named Jonathan Goldsmith.

So it came as a surprise this year when Dos Equis cut ties with Mr. Goldsmith, citing a need to attract younger consumers. Rather than retire the campaign, the brand created a commercial that sent the beloved character on a one-way mission to Mars, and last week it announced that the new Most Interesting Man in the World will be the 41-year-old French actor Augustin Legrand.

Dos Equis, hoping for a seamless transition, likened the move to picking a new actor to play James Bond, but it has put the brand in the awkward position of explaining why the previous Most Interesting Man in the World was no longer interesting enough. Mr. Goldsmith, after all, has been the face of the campaign since it started.

Andrew Katz, the vice president for marketing for Dos Equis, denied that the change was made because Mr. Goldsmith had “aged out.”

“It had more to do with really trying to evolve the campaign story line,” Mr. Katz said in an interview. “This new interesting man is more resourceful, he’s more willing to roll up his sleeves and he is more present tense than past tense.”

Mr. Katz added that the meaning of the word “interesting” has “obviously evolved over time” and that millennials in particular “value different things” than other generations. To underscore that, Dos Equis said it had conducted a survey in February of about 1,000 men ages 21 to 35, in which 84 percent of respondents said that “what is interesting today is different from what was interesting a decade ago.”

On Facebook and Twitter, skeptics of the change expressed their loyalty to Mr. Goldsmith and lamented his exit. And news of the character’s trip to Mars may not have reached everyone: Some wondered how there could be two “most interesting” men in the world, given the singular nature of the word “most.”

Several critical comments on social media were delivered in the tone of the commercials: “The most interesting man in the world doesn’t get replaced by the beer company. He replaces the beer company,” one person wrote on the Dos Equis Facebook page. The comment received more than 3,000 “likes.”

“There’s always a risk anytime you make a change that people will ask what’s going on, especially when you’ve branded that person ‘the most interesting guy’ and given them a superlative,” Mr. Adamson said. “Then the eyes will be more critical to: ‘Do I believe it? Do I like it? How does he compare to that other guy?’”

Mr. Goldsmith, who turns 78 this month, said that it was not his decision to leave the brand but that he wishes Dos Equis “the very best in every way.” When asked about his appeal among different age groups, he said he was “very privileged to have the demographics from 7 to 80.”

“These corporate decisions are just that, and I have very little comment on that,” he said in an interview. “It’s their campaign and they did what they did. Time will tell about the success of it, but you know, that’s business.”

Mr. Katz said Mr. Legrand would be more active and adventurous than his predecessor, though the campaign will maintain its “legend lines,” which is how the brand refers to remarks like: “His fortune cookies simply read ‘Congratulations.’”

A clip on YouTube introducing Mr. Legrand last week showed a montage of scenes in which he exits a rocket ship, flees down an alleyway and emerges drenched from a well to return a soccer ball to a group of men. It was narrated in Spanish with subtitles, one of the languages Mr. Legrand speaks, which Mr. Katz said was an effort to “lean into our authenticity” as a Mexican beer. (When asked whether it considered casting a Latino actor to play the role, Dos Equis said it chose to “not limit ourselves to a specific ethnicity or region,” noting the beer was made by a German brewmaster in Mexico.)

But it will most likely take time for consumers to associate a new face with the brand.

Mr. Goldsmith, who has been writing for the online magazine True.Ink and working on his poetry from Vermont, said he recently sold a book about his life that may have the word “interesting” in its title. He posts to Instagram under the handle @stay_interesting, where he describes himself as the “actor known for his role as The Most Interesting Man in the World.”

“The actor is obviously important, but at the end of the day we think the campaign itself is the thing that people love,” Mr. Katz said. “It’s the framework that’s just so strong.”