So, this is why Newcastle Brown Ale hired Aubrey Plaza as its 2015 Super Bowl endorser: Her perma-sarcasm and lack of energy make her the world's worst spokeswoman—or if you like, the world's best anti-spokeswoman.
The brewer and ad agency Droga5—who specialize in deflating marketing's overblown self-importance—continue their march toward the industy's most overblown, self-important night by having the Parks and Recreation actress sullenly and amusingly milk a cow. This part of the brand's email to us sums up the approach pretty well:
You can't make an overblown Big Game ad campaign without releasing a semi-controversial clickbait video ahead of time to prime the pump and get people "excited" about the coming advertisement. (As excited as Aubrey, even.)
Newcastle is actually buying a regional Super Bowl spot this year. In an earlier video with Plaza, it announced a plan to crowdfund that spot with a bunch of other brands.
"In exchange for a small contribution, any brand can join Newcastle's team and have its logo and messaging featured in an actual Big Game spot," the brand says. Today is the last day for interested companies to submit their "Band of Brands" proposal for consideration at NewcastleBandOfBrands.com.
"At first we tried to sneak our way into the Big Game by entering a popular commercial contest put on by a certain snack chip brand, but that didn't work out for us. Now we're trying to leverage 'strength in numbers' to see what that does for us," said Priscilla Flores Dohnert, brand director for Newcastle Brown Ale. "Everyone loves a great underdog story. What's more 'underdog' than being short on cash and not having the right to advertise during the game?"