AdMiration feature: Carlsberg’s “If Carlsberg Did Summer”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Carlsberg’s “If Carlsberg Did Summer” ad — the first campaign to carry the iconic “If Carlsberg Did…” line since 2016.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens on a group of friends sitting out on a blistering summer afternoon in the park. The picnic is set, the heat is relentless and there is nothing cold left to drink.

Then an ice cream van rolls into the park before one of the group gets up and runs towards it. 

He hands a pound coin through the serving window but what comes back isn’t a 99 Flake. Instead, we see an ice cold Carlsberg Danish Pilsner at 99p a pint and inside the van the taps are already pouring. 

A queue has formed behind him and the rest of the park is doing the same — pints are handed out one after another. 

The ad closes on the line: “Carlsberg. Probably the best beer in the world.”

3 facts

• This was a strong ad from Carlsberg that works on both fronts, sitting in the top third of ads for its potential to drive short-term sales and to build brand equity over the longer term (Sales Impact: 67; Brand Impact: 68).

• It stands apart from other lager advertising in the UK (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.0 vs. 3.7 norm) and reads as an ad only Carlsberg could have made (Uniqueness of Brand Impressions: 4.1 vs. 3.8 norm). Reviving a line the brand has owned for decades is a big part of why.

• People find it funny (Laughter: 11% vs. 5% norm) and older viewers find it not only funnier (45+ Laughter: 13% vs. 4% norm) but also feel strong love when watching the ad (45+ Love: 22% vs. 14% norm).

2 learnings

• Borrow a scenario your audience recognizes and make your product the twist. An idea like this could have easily confused people, but it doesn’t, because everything around the twist is familiar — the hot British weather, the empty cooler and the ice cream van pulling into the park. Carlsberg only has to communicate one new piece of information and a moment people already recognize does the rest of the explaining (Understanding: 4.4 vs. 4.2 norm). Introducing the product as the twist is also what sets the ad apart from everything else in the category (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.0 vs. 3.7 norm) and what makes it funny (Laugher: 11% vs. 5% norm). The tension building before the van arrives keeps viewers watching to find out what’s inside (Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.8 norm). As one viewer put it: “A great twist of seeing an recognisable vehicle selling something different & liked all the signs around the van, good touch.”

• Make your product the reason the joke works. The risk with a funny ad is that the product may end up feeling tacked on after the joke rather than included in it. But in this ad, the product reveal is the joke — Laughter spikes as the man bolts for the van, then again when we see what’s inside it, with Love climbing to its high straight afterwards as the sign reveals ice cold Danish Pilsner for 99p. Both laughs land before the ad makes its offer so the pint doesn’t come across as a pitch. The joke only works if you’d rather have the pint than the ice cream so if you’re laughing, you’re most likely already sold.

1 reflection

What’s worked for your brand in the past that could work again today?

“If Carlsberg did…” hasn’t appeared in a Carlsberg campaign since 2016, but people never stopped using it — social listening found the phrase used close to 20,000 times globally in the year before this relaunch. Carlsberg simply reclaimed a line people had carried on using without them.

That gave the campaign a headstart which shows in the results. The ad resonates the most with the viewers old enough to remember the platform working the first time round (45+ Sales Impact: 94; Brand Impact: 94). One of them even made the connection outright: “It was very amusing and reminded me of the old ads for Carlsberg.”

But the more interesting detail is that a decade-old platform came back and read as current rather than nostalgic. Of everything viewers could say the ad communicates about the brand, “rooted in tradition” is the one they pick least (9%, and 11% among over-45s). Carlsberg kept the line but swapped the old fantasy classics like the holiday resort, the ultimate apartment and 5 a side team of dreams for an everyday British frustration.

The advantage of bringing back an old idea, slogan or other brand asset is that people already know it but the risk is that it may feel dated. Ask yourself: what’s the part worth keeping, and what needs rebuilding?

“If Carlsberg Did Summer” is the latest film in Carlsberg’s revival of the “If Carlsberg Did…” platform, which returns to the brand’s advertising for the first time since 2016. It was created with the agency Fold7 and is running in the UK from July 20 to August 31 across multiple channels and supported by in-store displays and branded merchandise.

The platform historically stood for “access to the best,” reimagining everyday situations as their ultimate version. The 2026 iteration swaps the fantasy scenarios with real seasonal frustrations and answers them with a Carlsberg solution.

Three executions run under the platform this summer. The ice cream van film is joined by “If Carlsberg Did Football Ads,” which converted billboards into physical goals for spontaneous kickabouts, and “If Carlsberg Did Summer… seagulls wouldn't get a look in,” which puts trained hawks into coastal pub gardens as “Seagull Security.” Retail activity across grocery, convenience and wholesale runs under the line “If Carlsberg did summer, we'd keep it chilled.”

Munnawar Chishty, CMO at Carlsberg Britvic, said: “Bringing back 'If Carlsberg Did...' after ten years is a massive moment for us. It is one of the most iconic, recognisable, and beloved advertising taglines in British history.” And Carlsberg has confirmed that the relaunch is more than a seasonal exercise — “If Carlsberg Did…” is becoming its long-term global creative platform.

Carlsberg has landed a spot that works on both fronts, sitting in the top third of ads for its potential to drive short-term sales and to build brand equity over the longer term (Sales Impact: 67; Brand Impact: 68).

It resonates the most with viewers aged 45 and over (Sales Impact: 94; Brand Impact: 94), who are the group most familiar with the original “If Carlsberg Did…” run.

The ad stands apart from other lager advertising in the UK (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.0 vs. 3.7 norm) and it holds people’s attention (Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.8 norm). 

It also reads as an ad only Carlsberg could have made (Uniqueness of Brand Impressions: 4.1 vs. 3.8 norm) — a benefit of reviving the “If Carlsberg did…” line once again.

With viewers aged 45 and over, it goes further, setting Carlsberg apart from the rest of the category too (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.6 vs. 3.4 norm).

The ad creates a familiar scenario with a twist and that’s what makes it different. The setup is the most ordinary thing in a British summer — it’s too hot with nothing cold left to eat or drink. 

Then the van pulls up selling 99p pints instead of ice cream and it works because, for a lot of UK adults, the swap is an upgrade: 

• “I like how it was different to every other beer advert that you see on TV. It had a little talking and different scenery.”

• “How it was in a beer truck like ice cream truck for adults.”

• “I liked that it made the van adult friendly and relatable to being thirsty on a hot summer’s day.”

An idea like this could have gone over people’s heads. But here it doesn’t, because the only new thing in the ad is what’s on offer (Understanding: 4.4 vs. 4.2 norm).

People find the ad funny. Laughter comes in at 11% vs. 5% norm, more than double the norm, resulting in an Overall Emotion that sits slightly above the norm (55 vs. 49 norm). 

That goes further with viewers aged 45 and over, who laugh harder than anyone (Laughter: 13% vs. 4% norm) — more than three times the benchmark for their age group, and the strongest emotional response we saw. 

Love, on the other hand, sits at the norm for the total audience (24% vs. 28%) but lands well clear of it with over-45s (Love: 22% vs. 14% norm).

The second-by-second trace shows Surprise ticks up as the group starts looking around and one of them spots the van. It stays present throughout so the ad keeps viewers engaged and wondering what’s coming.

Laughter then spikes twice, with the first peak coming on the reaction itself, as the man is up and moving before anyone else has registered what he’s seen. The second comes on the reveal, when we see inside the van where pints of Carlsberg are being poured.

Both laughs land before the ad makes its offer, so the pint arrives as the payoff to a joke viewers are already enjoying rather than as the thing the ad is trying to sell.

Love climbs immediately after, jumping to its high as the van sign confirms ice cold Danish Pilsner is on offer for 99p, ending the film on a high note.

The music does its share of the work here too. It builds tension from the moment the film starts and releases it the instant we see what the van is actually serving (Musical Appeal: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm).

Here’s what people loved about it:

• “I liked the story unfolding after the man was desperate for a drink. I like the cost of 99p. I like the images of the cold beer which look delicious.”

• “The whole "hot sunny day, cool box is empty" feeling, relieved by the appearance of the Carlsberg van.”

• “I like the subtle humour of the Carlsberg van instead of a traditional ice cream van. I liked that the van's branding was typical of an ice cream van (with different varieties etc shown on the outside) but was for lager.”

• “A great twist of seeing an recognisable vehicle selling something different & liked all the signs around the van, good touch.”

• “Finding out they had no beer and then the van appearing, very funny.”

• “Genuinely made me smile/laugh. The beer can is a great idea - wish this was a thing. Makes me want Carlsberg.”

The timing can’t be better for this ad either! It’s all about being too hot and having nothing cold to drink, running in a summer where that describes most of the country, and Relevance lands at 3.7 (vs. 3.5 norm) as a result. 

One viewer connects it straight to the weather outside right now: “I liked the intensity of the ad and that it was a beer van and not an ice van. It is very relevant because of the hot weather we are experiencing at the moment.”

Being this relevant also shapes what people take away about the brand after watching the ad. “Great for the summer” (64%) and “crisp and refreshing” (62%) are the two associations viewers land on most — and both are strong category entry points, linking Carlsberg to the exact moment people are most likely to want a beer right now.. As one viewer said: “The advert made the beer look like apple juice so it looked really refreshing.”

Carlsberg took the most familiar scene in a British summer and changed one thing about it, and that single swap does the heavy lifting: it relaunches a platform, lands a joke and leaves you wanting a cold pint. 

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