The Client Deserves the Shiner.

I just read that the Shiner beer account is up for grabs. In honor of some of the best work the category has ever done, I'd like to share an excerpt from a blog post I wrote after last year's Super Bowl, when in my humble opinion, a client fumbled badly. 

I can only hope that a better client beats a path to McGarrah Jessee's door and hands them a bigger brand, then gets out of their way long enough for them to do what they're infinitely capable of.

Hats off to the mc-j crew. What you did for Shiner beer will not be forgotten. I hope Shiner's future sales reflect the idiocy of their boneheaded decision.

POURING A FORTY FOR SHINER BEER -- THE END OF AN ERA?

February 5, 2018

I cannot go quietly about the Shiner Beer spot that ran early in the first quarter of this (last year's) Super Bowl. I was embarrassed for the brand and the agency after seeing the travesty of their :30-second spot, which was so publicly hyped in the media before running on Sunday.

It's not easy to shoot a hole in both your feet with one bullet, but IMO Shiner did just that. They managed to insult Texas residents and newcomers in equal measure. 

I'm sure things are pretty quiet around McGarrah Jessee this morning as the opinions roll in, but I think there's a much bigger problem here. I know full well that blowing 1.2 million dollars on a steaming hunk of shit is not Mark, Bryan, or mc-j's style.

I believe Shiner's Director of Marketing should be shit-canned immediately for squandering 1.2 million dollars on a veiled attempt to glad-hand a wider audience.

To me, this is the kind of work that agencies lose accounts over.

Isn't it time that the marketing directors got the ass-kicking? I believe that a client drunk on their success has forgotten how they achieved that success. I believe they stopped listening to the agency that engineered their remarkable success. I believe that they hired a more "sophisticated" marketing director who directed lead them straight down the path to pure drivel.

End of rant. And sadly, an era.

Cameron Day is an Austin, Texas-based freelance Creative Director and writer who no longer drinks Shiner beer. He's done a few decent ads for them in the past.