Karmarama created “The Boss” in a new campaign for Cobra Beer (not to be confused with Anheuser-Busch’s disgusting King Cobra brand of malt liquor, something of an undergraduate staple in the states).
The titular character is an always on the job owner of Cobra Beer and a successful brassiere company BraCo by night. (It’s an anagram, get it?) As you may have already gathered, the concept is more than a bit reminiscent of Havas’ popular “The Most Interesting Man in the World” character for Dos Equis. While Karmarama are certainly not alone in borrowing from Dos Equis, their “The Boss” is probably closer to Jonathan Goldsmith’s character than anything else we’ve seen. (Perhaps a little too close?) He shares with Dos Equis’ spokesman both an underlying elegant cool, and seemingly superhuman capabilities — “The Boss,” the spot elucidates “never sleeps, because he’s living the dream.” Like Dos Equis’ campaign, “The Boss” also relies on tongue in cheek humor (such as when employees rearrange the Cobra letters above the entrance) to deliver its message with “broad appeal to their target audiences.”
“This was a sprawling international shoot and it was such a fun concept and a great team – Dave Buonaguidi, Rich Connell, Clem Woodward and Jenny O’Connell of Karmarama were great to work with and very involved in all the right ways,” says Biscuit director, Mike Maguire. “The concept was always about The Boss and his two companies, but the simplicity of this great play-on-words, it just took the humor to a new, wildly absurd and fun place.”
Stick around for credits after the jump, and let us know what you think of the spot in the comments section. Credits:
Agency: Karmarama
Art Director: Clement Woodward
Copywriter: Richard Connell
Creative Director: Dave Buonaguidi
Planning Director: Matt Sadler
Account Director: William Waldron
Agency Producer: Jenny O’Connell
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Mike Maguire
Producer: Emma Butterworth
Executive Producer: Orlando Wood
Executive Producer: Colleen O’Donnell
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Production Manager: Katy Smith
Director of Photography: Daniel Landin
Production Designer: Alexis Ross
1st AD: Iain Patrick
Offline Editor: Rick Russell – Final Cut
VFX Post House: nineteentwenty
VFX Supervisor: Chrys Aldred – nineteentwenty
VFX Artist: Chrys Aldred – nineteentwenty
VFX Producer: Scott Griffin
DMP Aritst: Levii Peterffy
Colourist: Jean-Clement Soret @ Moving Picture Company
Sound Design: Steve Lane – GCRS
Music Company: Major Tom