Can headlines and taglines support a brand experience? Damn right!

Whether writing for the Web or print, grabbing the reader’s attention is a must. That’s exactly what Canadian Club’s “Damn Right” campaign does. “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” features great pics (submitted by Canadian Club employees) from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s along with provocative headlines that remind guys that their dads were once cool… manly even. And real men drank Canadian Club.

Nice.

This campaign is clean—simple and easy to read. And, at almost a year old, it’s still gaining fans… and a few enemies. Some say the campaign is sexist and should be pulled. (It’s hard to whip out a headline like “Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First” and not expect some backlash.) Others, like myself, think it’s genius.

No, no—I’m not a sexist and I’m not condoning alcohol consumption. Here’s what I like about the ads: they out-do typical alcohol promos by conveying an image that men in their 30s and 40s can relate to. I am, after all, part of the target market—a guy in his mid-thirties. And I have on more than one occasion reflected and asked myself “Wow, am I becoming my father?” The “not his first” connotation taps the moment when guys like me first realized that Dad was a regular guy, too. It’s the campaign’s ability to tap into the real aspects of a man’s life that make it work.

And like any great image ad, there’s no call to action. The “selling” gets done through back channels. Beam Global, the makers of Canadian Club, spent millions on out-of-home and radio advertising, experiential elements, point-of-sale items and in-market events that still continue to this day. In fact, a co-branded event promotion took place in Boston a few weeks ago. Canadian Club sponsored a “Mad Men” party in junction with the popular A&E television series. The series, set around the 1950’s New York advertising scene, syncs well with CC’s retro campaign. At the event, party goers were given free Canadian Club cocktails in an attempt to gain new brand loyalists and evangelists.

As an astute Molecule, you’re wondering what this has to do with Web-based brand interactions. Through back channels, like the Mad Men event, partygoers are introduced to the website. The Web experience is straightforward. It lets users create their own Damn Right ad. Users choose their favorite ad and apply a personal pic, adjust it and download the finished product. What’s great from a copywriting perspective is how CC’s tone carries the brand theme throughout. The directions read “Fiddle around with the click and drag, rotate and scale tools until your image looks Damn Right,” and “Damn Right this was easy. Now you can download your ad and send it to your friends.” That’s good on-brand copy.

I slapped my picture on “Your Dad Was Not A Metrosexual.” (I’m hoping for those of you who’ve seen me around the office, “metrosexual” was the furthest from your mind.)

The experience is simple, effective and engaging. Log on Canadianclubwhisky.com and create your own. I’m going to send mine to my dad. He’ll be proud.