OPINION: Cowen on ... Kronenbourg 1664.(Brief Article)

Carl Gottlieb, one of the screenwriters on Jaws, has an interesting argument for why the film has gained classic status. Gottlieb admits Jaws is not a great film in the way that, say, Citizen Kane is. It isn't a significantly innovative piece of cinema and does not have a deep storyline.

The main reason for it remaining on film geeks' top ten lists, Gottlieb claims, is that every aspect of the direction, the actors' performances and the script is so well executed. Jaws is a film that sets out merely to entertain but, as anyone who's nervous about swimming in the ocean can attest, it does this with a level of skill that raises it above the average blockbuster.

M&C Saatchi's new campaign for Kronenbourg 1664 isn't Citizen Kane either - nor is it profound or original enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Guinness' 'surfers', Sony PlayStation's 'double life' or CDP's 'Heineken' and 'Hamlet' ads. Like Jaws, the campaign's main selling point is entertainment, but, as with Jaws, you have to applaud the skill, poise and attention to detail that's evident in every frame and shows how much craft is needed to create a genuine crowd-pleaser.

The idea of selling a product on the basis of its foreign heritage is nothing new - certainly not in the premium lager category in which Kronenbourg operates. Stella Artois' proposition might be 'reassuringly expensive' but Lowe's TV ads leave little doubt of the importance of being 'reassuringly rustic and European' to its positioning. Similarly, in the 15 years that Young & Rubicam has handled Kronenbourg, its French identity has been rammed home to consumers. The problem, according to Kronenbourg's comments when they switched the account to M&C Saatchi nine months ago, is that no-one ever came up with a convincing reason why this is a good thing.

This is partly caused, I'd suggest, by the fact there's no logical argument that explains why European lager should be inherently superior - still less one that ...