Extreme Group launches its first campaign for James Ready

Building on a proud radio tradition of (sometimes willfully) misheard lyrics, Moosehead Breweries is telling consumers to “buck off” in a new campaign promoting its James Ready 5.5 beer.

The radio-only campaign was created by Extreme Group’s Toronto office, which took over the James Ready account from Leo Burnett this year. It is Extreme’s first work for the James Ready brand, though its Halifax office has a longstanding relationship with Moosehead, producing work for sister brands Alpine and Moosehead Light.

Leo Burnett handled the James Ready assignment for approximately five years, producing several noteworthy campaigns including the “James Ready Blank Cap Recall” (a gold winner at the One Show) and the “Coupon Billboard.”

Katie Wright, director of marketing for Moosehead in Toronto, said the two companies amicably “decided to go our separate ways” at the end of 2012. “They won many awards and did great things for James Ready and it was a very amicable departure,” said Wright. “There are no hard feelings.”

The new radio-only campaign from Extreme features a pair of 30-second spots, each aimed at a different consumer segment. The first spot, currently in market and running for eight weeks, is aimed at male drinkers 25-45 in primarily suburban markets such as London, Kitchener and St. Catharines.

The second spot, debuting in mid-August to coincide with the back-to-school period, is aimed at university students. Both spots promoting the value beer inform listeners of a $1-off limited time offer on cases of James Ready 5.5.

One of the original value beers, Wright said James Ready flourished during the old “buck-a-beer” days; however, as the lowest legal price for beer has increased, so has the competition. “It’s challenging for all mainstream brands, not just James Ready, to position themselves against massive global brands,” said Wright.

“There are a lot of drinkers who want the lowest-priced beer on the market but want to drink something that’s unique and says something about them,” said Wright. “That’s where James Ready has always been the beer of the people and why we feel that with our personality we’ve got a bit of an advantage over other value brands.”

Phil Sylver, creative director at Extreme Group’s Toronto office, said the creative strategy was confirmed when, during a recent gathering in one of the radio markets, a friend of an Extreme account executive announced he was going to “buck off” before proceeding to open a James Ready.  “We did it to get [“buck off”] into the vernacular and let people have fun with it,” he said.

Wills & Co. handled media for the campaign.