BrewDog Runs Jarring Ad During Game Of Thrones In The UK

Game of Thrones of Throne first airs at 2am in the UK…So fans stay up late or risk being inundated with spoilers. GoT also comes with an ad break in the United Kingdom and BrewDog ran one that was brutally honest…

Here’s the deal…

The fourth episode of the final season of Game of Thrones attracted approximately 17.4 million viewers, making it a prime commercial break for brands who, no doubt paid dearly for that window.

And Scottish punk brewers, BrewDog, took that opportunity during Sky TV’s ad break to be loud, brash and to-the-point.

Branded as “the most honest ad you might ever see,” the 30 second commercial (they’re also called adverts in the UK) with a heavy metal track ‘bleed’ by Meshuggah playing in the background, was created by Uncommon Creative Studio, a London-based advertising group.

“The ad break in GoT is one of the most prestigious media slots in the cultural calendar. Brands often spend big here, investing in massive narratives and slick films often referencing the show they sit around. So we didn’t,” Uncommon’s Nils Leonard told Adweek. “Ad breaks for shows this big are a jazz salad of messages, so we set out to make the simplest, most honest message we could.”

The campaign, which will continue its run on TV see cinema exposure and utilize social media, was described by James Watt, co-founder at BrewDog as the exact opposite of what convention and rules expect….

“Only 14% of the U.K. population has discovered craft beer… there’s a huge untapped market. The craft beer revolution will only take hold if we convince the world to ditch the mainstream and embrace the alternative.”

“We don’t want to live in a world dominated by bad beer any more than you want to live in one with lame advertising. So we have drawn a line in the sand with this new campaign.”

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Homepage image credit: HBO