Blue Moon Brings Back the Funny Beer Ad

“Finally, a funny beer ad” – so said one of the top viewer comments in our Test Your Ad test for Blue Moon’s new commercial. We have to agree. Beer ads are a category which should be entertaining and humorous, but too often miss that mark with jokes that pull their punches or celebrity appearances that fall flat.

Blue Moon’s ad, “Nothing Outshines A Blue Moon”, is part of their new “Made Brighter” creative platform, developed with agency adam&eveDDB. The ad does star a celebrity – Colin Jost of SNL fame – but he’s had far deeper involvement with the spot than most stars. In fact he’s got involved in the writing of the ads too, bringing the sharp, slightly dark comic skills he uses at SML to the world of a 30-second beer spot.

That’s one reason “Nothing Outshines A Blue Moon” works. It feels riskier than the average beer ad, which makes it funnier. At System1 we’re huge fans of brands using animated characters and brand mascots to add personality and creative consistency to their marketing. But that’s not to say we don’t appreciate an ad which gently mocks that trend.

So when Blue Moon introduces us to two animated oranges, a father and son, we’re not expecting the ad to go where it does. The jolly dad orange is proud as can be that his son’s been chosen to provide the slice that goes into a cool glass of Blue Moon. Colin Jost is a little taken aback by this unusual parenting style, but eventually bites into the slice, which lets the oranges prank him by howling with horror. At the end of the ad there’s yet another twist – Jost explains the oranges’ weird relationship to the bartender, but when she looks they’re just… normal oranges.

It’s a resolution which ends a surreal commercial but also makes Jost firmly the punchline of the joke, and removes any of the possibly disturbing questions that might come with him eating an animated character. The ad gets to reap the benefits that come with brand characters – humor, interaction, and memorable distinctive assets – while also adding a slightly more cynical, grown up spin which sets Blue Moon apart from other brands.

And the ad is also, of course, a solid example of the product being the hero. In amongst the shenanigans with the oranges, the ad is giving us all the information you need to know about an unfamiliar craft beer brand. It comes with an orange slice, and it’s cool if you eat that first. The ad can put the spotlight on the brand and what makes it distinctive while still focusing on entertaining its audience.

On the Test Your Ad platform, the results for Blue Moon are encouraging to anyone who wants to see more humor in commercials. The brand gets a 4.3-Star Rating for long-term growth potential, way over the 2.3-Star average for US beer commercials. The ad also gets an Exceptional Spike Rating predicting strong short-term sales, and also performs above the norm on Brand Fluency despite being a smaller brand.

For Blue Moon, and for people who like their ads to be funny, these results are as refreshing as the beer itself. Involving Jost creatively has paid off for the brand. The risks in making humorous ads are exaggerated; do it well and viewers will notice and thank you.