After sending off Jonathan Goldsmith’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” character on a “Mission to Mars” this past March, selling his stuff and running a brief campaign measuring people like Luis Guzmán and Erin Andrews against the “Most Interesting Index,” Havas New York teased Goldsmith’s successor, Augustin Legrand, with “Meet the New Most Interesting Man in the World” last month. Now the agency has released the full spot starring the new Dos Equis spokesman with “The New Most Interesting Man in the World Traverses the Sand and the Serengeti.”
The new effort takes the “New Most Interesting Man” character back to the roots of the Goldsmith-fueled campaign, relying on glimpses of adventure and claims of ridiculous, and often nonsensical, accomplishments, while avoiding the lecherousness the old campaign had descended into. “He once cheated death, and death was perfectly okay with that,” says the voiceover at the start of the spot, which, true to its title, features the character traversing the desert and Serengeti, while pulling off such impressive feats as kicking a coconut football through a pair of giraffes.
While it in many ways harkens back to the early days of the original “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign, the new effort also includes some key differences. The “New Most Interesting Man in the World” is still rather young, currently embarking on the most interesting adventures of his life, rather than reminiscing about them, as Goldsmith’s character often did. And while the previous campaign often portrayed women as mere objects of desire for Goldsmith’s character, in the latest effort Legrand is given a female foil in a co-starring character played by Marina Artigas. Over the course of the ad, the two characters attempt to best each other at a series of contests, with seemingly neither coming out on top. That’s a refreshing change of pace that should help deflect criticism of the effort as a mere rehash. (Should we expect a “Most Interesting Woman in the World” spinoff?) Artigas’ character also changes the closing line to “Stay thirsty, mis amigos,” which is a nice touch.
“The new Most Interesting Man is a man of action,” Havas chief creative officer, Americas Toygar Bazarkaya told AdAge. “He’s never one to reminisce on times past, which stylistically changes everything. With a faster pace and more energy, we’re reinvigorating and modernizing one of the greatest campaigns.”