Jean-Claude Van Damme is still ice cold, but also still not as frosty as a Coors Light, says the brewer.
It's been more than two years since the Gen X icon philosophized about his tight, frozen pants and post-coital penguin walks, from a snowy mountaintop, for the brand. Now, in another U.K. ad, he's returned to the summit to talk less, and do more—namely, build an entire lodge out of ice, mostly with his bare hands.
There's no easy way dissociate Van Damme from Volvo Trucks, given their collaboration on one of the most popular commercials of the past year. Even if Coors Light was working with him first, it still casts something of a shadow over the brewer's message.
But like "Epic Split," the new beer spot—directed by Rattling Stick's Daniel Kleinman—plays mainly on Van Damme's own brand. Instead of straddling a pair of moving tractor trailers, he uses his ponytail as a hitch to drag a sled loaded with large ice blocks, and his high kick to chisel an incredibly detailed likeness of a taxidermy buffalo head. In other words, complete with super '80s montage music, it's nicely done (despite the fact that any epic beer action commercial is likely to knack a little of Hahn's SuperDry masterpiece, too).
To Coors Light's (and agency VCCP's) credit, the brand is also promising to construct real-life versions of the ice bars at three locations in Europe—London, Manchester and in Austria. It's hard to imagine them approaching Van Damme's master craft, though.
It's also tricky not to wonder how Chuck Norris would have handled the challenge.
CREDITS
Client: Coors Light
Agency: VCCP, UK
Agency Producer: Andy Leahy
Creative Director: Jim Capp
Copywriter: Jermaine Hillman
Art Director: Paul Kocur
Planners: George Everett, Sandie Dilger
Media Agency: ZenithOptimedia
Media Planners: Guy Edwards, Aidan O’Callaghan
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Daniel Kleinman
Postproduction: Framestore
Executive Producer/Producer: Johnnie Frankel
Editor: Julian Tranquille, Cut & Run
Sound: Sam Ashwell, 750mph
Music: Wake the Town