Bavaria Spoofs Heineken Walk In Fridge

Written by Igor Beuker on February 28th, 2009 | 3 comments

Dutch beer brand Bavaria just launched a TV commercial that leaves no mistake. It’s a professional spoof on the popular Walk In Fridge TV commercial from competitor Heineken, which was released late December 2008.

The first few times I saw the Heineken Walk In Fridge online, I almost wet my pants. A great consumer insight made the Heineken TV commercial very popular across many markets. It was viewed over 3 Million times at YouTube alone. It created incredible buzz and people watched it over and over again online.

I feel the Bavaria spoof is a nice try. But will this spoof also be funny after having seen it 1 or 2 times? I doubt it. Does it show Bavaria’s weakness if the spoof is not as compelling as its original? I do think so. Did Bavaria make a mistake by spoofing on TV instead of spoofing only online? Afraid so.

Is it a matter of taste or a professional opinion that the comparison between the 2 commercials clearly proofs why Heineken is the leading International brand here? To me it’s pretty obvious.

Or am I being too tough on Bavaria here? Share us your thoughts…

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3 Comments

• Matthijs Roumen says:

  March 1, 2009 at 22:29

  Great commercial, didn’t Bavaria do something similar a year ago with the “vrienden van Amstel”?

  If they’re trying to claim the position of the brand that spoofs other breweries, they could claim a good spot on the social web in the future; people will expect spoofing commercials and will even look for it. But will it do the brand any good when it comes to its identity? Always in the shadow of the other brand that comes with a great concept? Don’t think so…

  Reply
• Ferry Verlinden says:

  March 1, 2009 at 23:07

  Weak. Very weak. All they do is give Heineken a great compliment. And it shows their jealousy of the success Heineken had with their commercial. I can see the Bavaria marketing managers at their agency: “Damn, can’t you do something like that for us?” That hurts. Maybe that much that all you can come up with is the easy way out: a spoof.

  Reply
• Igor Beuker says:

  March 2, 2009 at 00:08

  @ Ferry: think you are very right!

  Cheers

  Igor

  Reply