This edition of my ‘This Is Marketing’ series features a TV ad from Jim Beam.
I watch commercials. I consider it part of my work.
I recognize the value and importance of marketing and how underutilized it tends to be among physicians.
Most commercials are blah, but every now and then it’s enjoyable. Remember the reason many people give for why they watch the Super Bowl every year.
Picture this from a recent Jim Beam ad:
A middle-aged man reading alone at a bar.
He starts to sing a few quiet bars of Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond.
He glances up and nods at the bartender who pours him a couple fingers of bourbon on the rocks.
Continuing to sing, he picks up his drink, gazes ponderously upward, then suddenly swivels as a woman’s singing voice emerges.
Their eyes meet. She smiles a bit, closes her eyes, then smiles brighter as she opens them and continues to sing.
Camera pans to an older man and his female companion singing joyfully, a little louder now, as the man pumps his fist on “reaching out!”.
Another man and woman are behind them, necks craned towards the ceiling, belting it out, together but also in their own worlds.
Now most of the bar is in on it.
Another man, bearded, leather jacket, sitting alone at a circular table with a full shot glass. Skeptical eyes and a quick glance around turn into confident notes as the camera cuts to a long shot from the bartender’s view.
We now see the bottle of Beam on the bar. The man from the beginning has closed his book. Another patron, likely a stranger, rests his forearm on the man’s shoulder while they sing joyfully in what now appears to be an English pub or a Scottish bar with it’s green walls, brass finishings, and sconces with spherical bulbs.
Cut to a medium shot of the bartender, dutifully pouring a double of Beam and allowing a muted “ba ba ba” to escape from his pursed lips as he cracks a smile.
Two friends beaming and singing into each other’s eyes.
A seated woman, pointed hand raised to the sky, “So good!”.
A balding man with a deep, velvety voice, the delicate arm of another patron draped around his neck, “So good!”.
A group of friends swaying, “So good!”.
A close-up of an older man wearing sunglasses, presumably visually impaired, sporting a quizzical impression as the music floods his visual cortex.
Back to a long shot of the crowd singing in unison, lost in the moment.
Cut to the mustachioed manager or owner, alone in his office perusing a stack of receipts, a black and white closed circuit feed on a small screen behind him, bopping his head and singing out of tune.
Back to the two men at the bar, book now open (the kind of editing error I rarely notice), both singing and swaying soulfully.
A young woman we haven’t met yet walks in cautiously and assesses the scene.
One woman gleefully kisses another on the cheek before exploding into “ba ba ba!”.
Back to the newcomer bursting into a Julia Roberts smile.
And, finally, the long shot of the crowd for a final “So good! So good! So good!” as the words “PEOPLE ARE GOOD FOR YOU” appear across the center of the shot before we see a Jim Beam logo next to a bottle of bourbon and a couple drinks.
Physician: Market Thyself!
If you’re willing, shout out some folks who are good for you in the comments.
