As one brave man does the half-time mercy dash to the liquor store to replenish stocks for the group during a footy match, it seems there’s little that can distract him from his sport, not even a slew of hot women who just happen to be lining the liquor store route. And, whether you agree with the stereotype or not, Tui’s ‘Halftime Distractions’ campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi  and The Sweet Shop’s Stuart McDonald certainly seems to have hit its mark, taking out Colmar Brunton’s Ad Impact Award for May.

DB group marketing manager, Jarrod Bear, says footy has a history of bringing the lads together to spin a few yarns, enjoy a few beers and some laughs.

“The TVC captures how much the lads cherish this time and how even the most tempting distractions are parked for 80mins,” he says.

Saatchi & Saatchi group account director Mark Cochrane is happy to see the campaign “working its little orange socks off”.

“We all know guys can get distracted at times (when they are meant to be keeping their eye on the ball) so it was fun to dramatise this insight for our drinkers.”

Still, it’s almost impossible to appease the masses and while the inclusion of young hot-blooded men and hot women is in keeping with the branding of Tui’s predecessor TVCs, it has, not surprisingly, rubbed some people up the wrong way. Feminist group Auckland Feminist Action admits that while the ad doesn’t put women in the “sexualised poses of the earlier brewery ads”, it says the women are portrayed as “just as stupid and helpless”. The group previously set up a petition and online campaign pushing to have Tui’s all-female brewery ads removed from television.

But in the words of another woman, Colmar Brunton’s senior account manager Harriet Dixon, at the end of the day it was a “well branded” effort that left no doubt in the minds of consumers that it was a Tui ad.

“This ad was highly impactful for consumers, grabbing their attention with the amusing scenes, trying to distract the man from his task of fetching in the beers for his mates,” she says.

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