I’ve been thinking recently about confidence as a brand value; what it means to have a confident brand, whether that’s always desirable, whether cute always has to rule out confident. Innocent, in particular, always walk the line between being unconventional and thoroughly affected, but it’s their confidence in their brand and product (“our drinks: It’s what we do best”) that keeps them on the right side of that.
By contrast, I’ve never liked Carlsberg’s “Probably the best lager in the world” slogan. It positioned the brand as a lazy choice; something that you’d drink if you couldn’t be bothered to look for anything else. Especially given the usual beer advertising, which relatively rarely refers to the actual quality of the product advertised (with the possible exception of American lagers) – it seemed to indicate that one of these other companies (you know, the ones with the funny adverts) actually made the best lager in the world if only you could find it. As a result, I love the way they’ve made the “Probably” work for them in the current (long-running) campaign, which is as confident as anyone could hope for :
Pub team:
Flatmates:
Instant confidence, without having to rebrand or break continuity with their old advert; it’s an excellent piece of branding.