Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio and Bozell take a look back at the good old days in three new, yet nostalgic, spots for Carlsberg beer.

The new campaign is a long shot from the old Clydesdales, once synonymous with the brand. The intent behind these spots – ‘Tryst,’ ‘Viking’ and ‘Yard Sale’ – is to give the brew a facelift and get away from those negative connotations of an overweight, middle-aged family man on the couch nursing a can of Carlsberg .

Chris Foster, vp account director at Bozell, says the concept behind the new creative was to play on those moments where you realize you have moved on but are happy about it, something they call ‘the Carlsberg years.’

‘Everybody thinks this is my dad’s beer,’ explains Foster. ‘It’s not necessarily for the 19-24 target; it’s more of a beer you sort of move to when you have a more discriminating taste. It’s for those who can say `Been there, done that’ and who are ready for the beer as opposed to the party.’

‘Tryst,’ a sexual adventure between a man and a woman who meet in a dark, sleazy motel room, is reminiscent of a steamy scene between Kim Bassinger and Mickey Rourke in 9 1/2 Weeks.

As the lovers go at it fast and furiously in the open motel doorway, the voice-over says, ‘A friend of mine told me the best sex you will ever have will be with your wife’ – cut to a shot of holding hands and wedding bands – ‘He was right.’

What does the beer have to do with it? It’s in the motel room mini-bar fridge ready for the close-up product shot at the end.

When D’Alessio first approached the steamy spot, the boards had the two already in the throws of passion, something he found limiting in terms of what he could do to heighten the sexual tension from a provocative standpoint.

‘When you watch a movie that has sex in it, the best scenes are the foreplay when they are throwing each other around and grabbing,’ explains D’Alessio. ‘So I went for that moment where you could get some anticipation, where they were all charged-up, when they couldn’t get each other’s clothes off quick enough. It works much better from a visually provocative standpoint.’

The Carlsberg campaign is the director’s first job with Bozell and his first attempt at beer ads for an older market. He says ‘Tryst’ is the reason he did the campaign. He found the boards clever, the strategy bang-on and liked the fact the campaign is intended for a more adult beer-drinking market.

For ‘Viking,’ D’Alessio and crew headed north of Toronto for a cottage party on Whitefish Lake. Although littered with adolescent party shots, it too breaks away from the classic beer ad model.

A simple spot featuring a couple of old buddies whacking golf balls into the lake, ‘Viking’ embodies that moment when the reality that you’re not the party animal you once were kicks in.

While the guys reminisce about the cottage parties of yesteryear, black-and-white flashbacks appear on the screen. The two remark how in the old days when you invited 10, 50 showed up, whereas now if you invite 10, eight might show, but ‘at least it’s a good eight.’

‘Yard Sale,’ the third spot of the campaign, is about that moment in life when it’s time to part with your frat house decor, collected road signs and racy posters of models who no longer seem to exist. It shows two guys, next door neighbors, perhaps, hauling out all of their old junk and setting up for the sale.

One of the challenges surrounding the campaign, according to D’Alessio, was getting liquor board approvals. Since the spots really ‘push the taste meter,’ copy had to be rewritten before they got the go-ahead.

‘To do a nostalgic look at the ’80s, we had to mire ourselves with some of the bad beer traditions of that time,’ says D’Alessio. ‘It was fun to go back with a comedic look at the sexist attitude of the old ads because we could do it with a tongue-in-cheek value.’

Simon Mestel lensed the spots, Paul Hains was creative director, Darren Warner was art director, Joseph Bonnici was copywriter and Anne Marie Martignago was agency producer. Mark Hajek, of Mark Hajek Edit cut the spot at Partners’ Post and Jungle Music looked after the sounds, composed by Mark Stafford.