Brief Explanation

New Zealand beer brand Speights has broken with beer ad tradition and taken to the dancefloor with a heartwarming new campaign. The two-minute film, called The Dance’, follows two workmates, as one teaches the other to dance. The ad also features other workmates, who provide critique on the men’s style and dance moves. The ad aims to break with the brand’s history of creating “blokey heroes” in their ads which have seen men earn a well-deserved beer through feats of strength, cunning, comedy – or a combination of all three. In ‘The Dance’ Speights showcases mateship, hard work and love, as well as reintroducing the brand’s iconic tagline, Good on Ya Mate’.

An edit that tells the story as much as the characters and performances do, this works with all of the elements captured to great comic effect. However, it is played out in a very matter of fact tone, and doesn't go for the traditional methods of comedy. Instead, the juxtaposition of the traditional masculine environments of the manual labour workplace and the artistic flair of the dance is allowed to exist alongside one another, offering a new viewpoint and way to tell this very intimate story.