In a Surprise Move, Dos Equis Shifts Account to Droga5 Without a Review

Heineken USA has moved creative duties on its Dos Equis brand from Havas Worldwide to Droga5 without a review. The fate of "The Most Interesting Man in the World," the character that Havas (then known as Euro RSCG) created for the brand in 2006, remains unclear. Droga5's first work will not debut until next year. "We can confirm that Dos Equis will be ending its relationship with Havas. Dos Equis and HEINEKEN USA have great appreciation for Havas’ long-standing partnership and creative collaboration, which produced the iconic advertising campaign, 'The Most Interesting Man in the World.' Their work will continue through 2017," a Heineken USA spokesperson said in a statement. "Droga5 will be the new creative agency of record for Dos Equis, and their first campaign for the brand will launch in 2018," the statement continued. "Droga5 is well-known for breakthrough advertising and we are excited to collaborate with them on the evolution of the campaign, as well as new ways to engage our consumers." Droga5 declined to comment on the news, and Havas representatives have not responded to a related query. When Adweek reached out to the client in April regarding claims that Droga5 would soon take over the Dos Equis account, Heineken responded that Havas remained its agency of record. Related contracts had not yet been finalized at the time. [kickout id="1"] Droga5 won creative duties for A-B In Bev's Best Damn alcopop line last August without a review, resigning from Heineken's Strongbow Cider and Newcastle beer brands in the process. A source with direct knowledge of the matter explains that the Best Damn account was a project assignment for a campaign that launched in February and does not present a conflict of interest because the agency is no longer actively working with A-B InBev. Havas relaunched "The Most Interesting Man in the World" with a new actor, Augustin Legrand, last September, after sending off Jonathan Goldsmith's portrayal (via rocket launch) in March. Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign was originally created by Karl Lieberman and Brandon Henderson at Euro RSCG back in 2006. "At some point, after floundering for two to three months, we came back with the idea that guys at the bar aren't afraid of being uncool, they're afraid of being uninteresting," Henderson recently explained to Adweek. One colleague at Euro RSCG was unimpressed with the effort, Lieberman added, expressing disappointment and claiming that the creative duo would be known as "Team So-So." While the client had some concerns about the age of the character being 30-40 years outside of its target demographic and mentioning, in the now iconic line, "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis," that he doesn't always use the product, the campaign went on to regional and then national success, becoming synonymous with the Dos Equis brand and spawning a popular internet meme. The account win follows Sprint naming Droga5 as its new creative agency of record without a review last November. In addition to the aforementioned Best Damn assignment for A-B InBev, it marks the third time in the past year that Droga5 has won a creative account without a review. Dos Equis spent nearly $42 million on measured media last year, up from $36 million in 2016, and $7.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, according to Kantar Media. Patrick Coffee contributed reporting to this story.