Tim Brooks Oct 20, 2026
Birra Moretti: Show don’t tell (and make ‘em smile!)
Birra Moretti is now the bestselling draught lager in the UK – a growth built steadily by Heineken UK, with a consistent investment in brand identity and a clear, uncomplicated positioning: Italian beer, Italian life, simple pleasures.
In September 2026, Birra Moretti announced Stanley Tucci, actor, writer and food lover, as its new UK and Ireland brand ambassador. Rather than putting Tucci in an ad telling people to slow down and enjoy life, the campaign implies he skips the campaign filming to live the ethos instead of selling it. Watch the ad here.
This was System1’s ad of the week two weeks back, so we recommend you read their erudite analysis of the TVC and how it transgresses the category conventions.
Brands, especially mass-market ones in hyper-competitive categories, face a relentless battle for mental availability. They are nearly all substitutable within a repertoire of acceptable alternatives. So, every morning you must wake up and fight for penetration, for consumption, to be chosen. Building a brand is hard graft.
In a #whatbrandsdo context the ad highlights part of the response. How brands must unlock distinctiveness and cut-through, alongside, the oft ignored truth that this demands you build a credible, relevant and consistent personality. In these situations, the temptation is to ‘shout’ to be loud and get noticed. To tell, not show. Unless you have a product difference or new benefit or ESOV to die for, this is rarely effective. Much beer advertising is like this, or so esoteric as to miss any sense of brand connection. Volume does not equal cut-through.
This work by Heineken / Lucky Generals works because it shows before it tells. At its heart there is an engaging narrative that pokes gentle fun at the category conventions – at advertising itself.
t leverages the celebrity endorsement – Stanley Tucci is the perfect choice on multiple levels – but it never forgets the brand is the star. It cleverly uses the established cultural connection between Tucci, the Italian family, strong relationships, great food and drink (it is Dolmio for beer). This also gently establishes an authentic provenance. It builds personality. Very importantly, it puts the product and its real-world, not imagined, benefits and experiences at the heart of the story. Finally, it makes us smile. The joke and Tucci’s delivery of it is a nudge, a quiet surprise, to get our attention and create a small brand memory.
Why don’t more brands flip the conventions and plough a different furrow? The first reason is courage; it is hard to zig when the world zags (said with a hat off to @BBH). Second, producing an effective and differentiated campaign is diamond hard, potentially risky and with no guarantee of success. To repeat, brand building is hard graft.
In this case, Salute and Cin Cin to all involved!
