Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow

All products need to suggest that they’re the best of the best, but they can’t all be. Andrew Leci spares some thoughts for the advertisers whose only directive is to sell, sell, sell.

- Kenny Nguyen

‘PROBABLY THE BEST lager in the world’, is unequally probably one of the best marketing straplines ever written. Originated in the UK in 1973 by an advertising agency known as KMP, it has stood the test of time - nearly half a century in fact - although ‘lager’ was replaced by ‘beer’ at some point.

Interestingly, unable to fly in the face of popular opinion forever, Carlsberg decided to slightly amend their famous slogan back in 2019, to “probably not the best beer in the world”, adding, “so we’ve changed it.”

The advertising campaign that admitted to putting quantity before quality was bold in its self-deprecation, as the brand changed its product to try to win back a plummeting market share. Only time will tell whether it’s been successful, but it’s interesting to see that iconic, claimatic (new word) phrase back in full force in 2022.

Was it the best lager/beer in the world in the early 1970s? Most certainly not, hence the word ‘probably’. But the line was catchy, and the product sold well. Carlsberg couldn’t categorically state that it was the ‘best’, because the claim was both outrageous and eminently contestable, but even the implication that it might be was enough to drive sales, and herein lies one of the conundrums in the worlds of marketing and advertising.