AdMiration feature: Irn-Bru’s “Mannschaft”

Welcome to a very special edition of our AdMiration feature! This week we had Richard Shotton, behavioral scientist and author of The Illusion of Choice and The Choice Factory, on as a guest author of our AdMiration newsletter on LinkedIn. 

This week, Richard researched Irn-Bru’s “Mannschaft” ad, which was created just ahead of the Scotland vs Germany Euros 2024 match.

Read on to get Richard’s 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection). Then keep reading for our deeper look into the data. 

The ad opens with a German football fan approaching a Scottish fan, wearing an orange kilt, in the bathroom. “Good luck with your Mannschaft, Ja?” We then learn that mannschaft, rather than being the part of anatomy that it sounds like, is German for “football team.” 

The Scot swaggers back into the bar, bagpipes playing in the background, explaining exactly how great the Scottish Mannschaft really is. The rest of the ad is an extended double entendre — he could be talking about either a strong and mighty football team, or something manly of a different kind. 

He ends by shouting “We caaaaan!” and flipping up his kilt to flash his backside, clothed in tight orange boxers and emblazoned with “We Can'' and the Irn Bru logo.

3 facts

• The ad achieves a high score on distinctiveness — both for ad distinctiveness (4.1 versus  the 3.6 norm) and brand distinctiveness (3.8 versus the 3.5 norm).

• The audience finds it highly amusing — when asked to select a single emoji in response to the overall ad, 38% went for the laughter emoji, much higher than the UK average of 7%. 

• It ends on a high — in the last 4 seconds, 20% of the audience record laughter as their overriding response compared to around 6% across the ad on average.

2 learnings

• Using humor boosts distinctiveness. Ads that make viewers laugh are a rarity these days, but humor helps an ad to stand out and leave a lasting impression.

• The way you end your ad is crucial, according to the peak-end rule, as this is the most memorable part — so ending with a bit of wit in the last few seconds will land well with an audience.

1 reflection

When asked to respond with a single emoji,  just 7% of UK ads are stamped with a laughing face. So, making people laugh is not a widely used tactic. But this is a mistake. 

According to the halo effect, discussed in The Illusion of Choice, our responses spill over from one characteristic to a brand as a whole.  When making an evaluation, we don't reflect on all features individually — that would be far too time consuming. Instead, we tend to assume that if a person or brand outperforms on one metric, they'll do so on others. So, if you do well on humor,  your audience will rate you highly on other, unrelated metrics.

Why pick humor to focus on? Well, being funny is something you can tangibly demonstrate in an ad. Other metrics you might want to convey, like trust or likeability, are more abstract and can only be claimed. Since demonstrations are more persuasive than claims, if you make a funny ad you'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Thanks to Richard for that great 3-2-1! Now here’s our deeper look at the data:

Irn-Bru’s “Mannschaft” is truly disruptive, captivating the audience beyond the norm for a UK ad from the first scene with the interaction between the Scottish and German supporters (claimed attention: 4.0 vs 3.7 norm). 

The monologue by the Scot fan and all the double entendres included make the ad stand out, significantly differentiating it from the average UK ad. This unique approach landed it in the top 5% of all UK ads researched when it comes to distinctiveness (ad distinctiveness: 4.1 vs 3.6 norm). 

It also did a great job of portraying the brand as differentiated compared to its competitors (brand distinctiveness: 3.8 vs 3.5 norm). Over 40% of the audience felt like the ad could have only been for Irn-Bru (uniqueness of brand impressions: 4.1 vs 3.8 norm).

Being quite cheeky and even a little bit risqué, viewers felt like the ad would be likely to get shared around on social media by a large number of people (viral potential: 57 vs 47 norm). 

It was extremely humorous throughout, engaging with the audience emotionally (overall emotion: 48% vs 42% norm) with an overwhelmingly dominant laughter reaction (laughter: 38% vs 7% norm). Not only was laughter the most chosen emotion when asked how viewers felt about the ad as a whole after watching, it was also the most selected emotion when the audience reacted to the ad second by second. 

Two moments in particular really tickled the audience: When the Scot bites into the Bratwurst and the Germans grimace and when he takes off his kilt to reveal the “we can” message on his bright orange underwear. The final few seconds alone had 20% of respondents reacting with laughter compared to an average of 6% per second throughout the ad. 

Nevertheless, the ad scored in the top 40% of UK ads in potential to drive short-term sales (sales impact: 62) and very much in line with the norm in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales (brand impact: 53). This is due to the fact that just over half of the audience correctly recalled Irn-Bru as the brand advertised when asked what brands featured in the ads they watched within a reel (unaided brand recall: 54% vs 72% norm). 

While obvious once you know which brand is being advertised, the brand cues could have easily been missed over the course of the one minute ad or even overshadowed by the humor. The fact that the product was taken out of its usual distinctive packaging and showcased in a stein might have also thrown some people off with a number of respondents thinking it was an ad for a beer.

Despite being highly emotionally engaging and distinctive, the fact that unaided brand recall was below average helps explain why we aren’t seeing a higher sales impact score for this ad. This highlights how important it is to ensure the brand is the protagonist when it comes to the story.

Nevertheless, the ad certainly got a giggle out of the audience and there were plenty of elements they loved about it. Here’s what they had to say: 

• "Great humor! Funny when he grabbed the bratwurst and the reaction of those men when he took a bite. And when he got on the table and lifted his kilt. Great ad."

• "The boldness of the Scottish man and I love the moment he pulls off his skirt to reveal the Irn-Bru brand. It was so interesting and captivating."

• "Very humorous and full of innuendos. Centered around euros so up to date and modern. Original, you definitely knew it was for Irn-Bru. Main character is not afraid to make a fool of himself."

• "The puns are hilarious. The Scots have a friendly rivalry with Germany which is what sport should be about. Irn-Bru have pitched the tone of the ad just right."

This was a comedic masterclass by Irn-Bru! We hope for the sake of Scottish fans out there the opening game tomorrow brings as much joy and optimism as this ad does. 

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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