News Flash: Canadian Club IS Your Father's Oldsmobile. And Proud Of It!

There has been a giant change in how cool works in America during my lifetime. When I was little, among adults there was really only one flavor of cool, and frankly cool and personal success were inversely proportional after a certain age. Meaning that successful people pretty much tried to ape the preppy look and set of behaviors. Those that sought a flashier lifestyle may have had money but were denied social status in the class system.

All this, BTW, is only my view, and only relevant to Caucasians. I am not sure how it worked for other races and cultures.

Now there are a million flavors of cool. I am frankly too old to know all the names of these, but on a recent trip to the Mission I saw rockabillies, punks, blue collar chics, Abercrombies, a group of people that I am told are called Emos, even a couple of Irish expats affecting the chavvy look, which really hasn't made much of a dent this side of the pond.

In short, the formula for cool has changed markedly.

And since the alcoholic beverage business rides on cool, it's become standard practice that today's hot brands are tomorrow's untouchables. The traditional brown liquor brands have taken it on the chin of late. Partly, in my view, because of this generational effect and partly because the nature of cool, of social "arrival," no longer looks to Westport for inspiration. Preppy is now the refuge of an increasingly small group. Much to the chagrin of The Talbots. Heck, when Abercrombie and Fitch, a brand that I remember as an Orvis like fly fishing outfitter, markets itself with soft core porn pics of models just barely on the right side of legal -- when Brooks Brothers ads feature a dredlocked African American exec (what WOULD they say at the club?) it's clear that venerable ads have had to adapt.

But back to brown liquor. In my view the two stodgiest brands in the category are Seagram's VO, and Canadian Club. Both are rather popular in the retirement towns of Florida, but to my knowledge I have never seen a bottle of either at a party I've been to.

So what do you do if you are Canadian Club? Well, you celebrate yourself as Dad's favorite drink. Check it out:

SO there it is. Don't dispute that it was your Dad's drink. That won't work. You saw him drink the stuff three times a week in an after work cocktail. (BTW, that was YOUR Dad. Mine liked Beefeaters and drank sparingly. But that is neither here nor there.) What you do is you reposition your Dad.

OK, so I admit it is a little "your strategy is showing," but I think it has promise. First, it makes the brand base feel good, celebrating their coolness. And it offers that contrarian message that is the favorite of the crowds of "individuals" that make it a point to do the opposite. Let's call them the Costanzas for the rest of this post.

I particularly like the tag. Damn right your Dad drank it.

I went to their site -- and I must say that I never thought I would see the day that I would visit the Canadian Club website, and they have a nice make your own ad app. A way for you to celebrate your own Dad.

I hope it works. I like brand renewal, and anything that makes you younguns remember that we were all rebels once. Except for me, but I chose to rebel against rebellion. That, BTW, makes me the antiCostanza.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.