With summer supposedly around the corner, Canadians’ thoughts turn to the Great Outdoors and all those related activities which ­ in the Great North ­ only lend themselves to certain months. In other words, Deep Beer Ad season.

Traditionally beer commercials have followed suit in seasonal celebration of warm weather and water-centric sport. With the days of the skimpy-swimsuit-as-creative-force on beer campaigns now part of commercial history (somewhere back there with cigarette ads and jingles), the genre seeks more subtle eyeball magnets to reach its target audience.

The new Molson Export spot wherein a pizza delivery guy heroically wrassles a bear in order to deliver the goods to waiting bush-dwelling diners, is one such effort. The first of a three-spot pool, it demos a new theme and positioning.

There’s something for everyone, a guys-at-a-lodge sort of camaraderie, not to mention pizza, bear action and beer. The epic p’em narration as the odyssey unfolds is a sardonic device which takes it to another level, suggesting a tall tales from the long table feel, and thereby injecting an element of male bonding-deprecating humor akin to the allure of The New Red Green Show for the female demographic.

And while we’re gazing at beer, the two new ‘I Am’ spots continue to depart from the original look of the Molson Canadian campaign ­ more linear, but at the same time more curious and cryptic than the original efforts. The new spots do feature an element of animation via the type, which comes to life in a very liquid fashion, punctuating the action and providing context for the visuals.

Speaking of which, one of the new ‘I Am’ ad films pairs ‘Go in the direction of your fear’ with footage of young men rushing lemming-like off a cliff; fortunately they’re jumping into a lake (one of the few spots recently that involve diving without a bungee cord).

The other spot juxtaposes the message, ‘If aliveŠJacques Cartier would sail across the sky’ with soaring (but oddly season-challenged) snowboard footage, then incongruously interjects a shot of a toaster with smoke pouring out the top, followed by footage of the boarders biting the snow and finishing the visual shorthand off with an explanatory plate of burnt toast, and a beer chaser.

Odd? PerhapsŠbut thereby ensuring it d’esn’t blend into the clutter and end up with the ignominious visual wallpaper fate of the safe-but-predictable spots.

Roll credits

Molson Export

Production house: The Partners’ Film Company

Director: Adam Massey

dop: Guillermo Navarro

Producer: Denny Kennedy

Editor: David Baxter

Music: Ted Rosnick

Agency: MacLaren McCann

Creative directors: Rick Davis/Stephen Blair/Maura MacNeill

Art director: Catlin Stothers

Copywriter: Ian Kiar

Producer: Franca Piacente

Molson Canadian

Production house: Spy Films

Director: Peter Henderson

dop: Sean Valentini

Producer: Shannon Barnes

Editor: Gillian McCarthy

Music/sound: Jody Colero/Tim Tickner

Agency: MacLaren McCann

Creative director: Rick Davis

Art director: Kerry Reynolds

Copywriter: Mark Fitzgerald

Producer: Deborah Narine