IRN BRU Hero Raoul

Raoul is the unlikely showman for Scotland’s Diet IRN BRU (pronounced Iron Brew), featuring in television commercials and his own web site, www.Oh-yeah.co.uk, as a would-be ‘Atlas’. The introductory spot, filmed on location in South Africa, begins in a resort swimming pool. A man dives into the water as two young women pour themselves a glass of the orange-coloured Diet IRN BRU. Raoul appears on the scene. “Hey ladies you come to Raoul’s house and make sandwich, yeah?”

The women look puzzled. He hits his chest and says, “I dive”. Next shot he’s up on the diving board. “Oh ladies! Look at Raoul bouncing up and down!”, he yells. One of the women gets out her powder compact mirror and flashes the sun into Raoul’s eyes. He falls awkwardly and ends up dangling from the diving board by his very elastic speedo. He bounces up and down until the speedo breaks. As he falls into the pool naked the two women toast each other with their glasses. The final shot is of Raoul’s naked body crawling out of the pool, with a bucket of ice-cold Diet IRN BRU in the foreground. “Oh Yeah!” is written on the bucket. We’re given a link to the micro-site oh-yeah.co.uk.

Credits

The Raoul Ad is known as ‘Atlas’, ‘Knocki Knocki’ and as ‘Sandwich’ and was created by Leith Agency by creative director Gerry Farrell, art director Rufus Wedderburn, copywriter Chris Watson and agency producer Les Watt.

Filming was shot by director Steve Burrows, executive producer Simon Mallinson and producer Seah Hobbs via Backyard Films, Venice, Mallinson Television Production Glasgow and Mustard London.

“Oh Yeah”, the soundtrack to the TV ad, was recorded by Austrian recording star, Yello, and was featured in the feature film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Raoul in the Nightclub

The latest Irn Bru Raoul ad is called ‘Nuts’, and features Raoul dancing in a night club. Raoul asks two Irn Bru drinking women, “Hey ladies, would you like nuts with your drinks? Yes? I gots!” Raoul dances and jiggles to the Latin music playing in the club. “Look at Raoul touching Raoul!”, he says. The women each take an ice cube from their Irn Bru bucket, sending them flying over the floor. Raoul slips and does the splits, revealing his leopard skin G-string. The clip finishes with Raoul walking away in discomfort, the Diet Irn Bru icebucket in the foreground.

About IRN BRU

IRN BRU is a caffeinated soft drink with its origins in Scotland, where it is the major competitor to Coca-Cola. It is made by A.G. Barr of Glasgow and exported to other parts of the UK, Ireland, Russia, Canada, Australia and much of Europe. However it is listed as banned substance by the US Food and Drug Administration because of the banned carcinogenic colouring Ponceau 4R and Sunset Yellow FCF. Diet IRN BRU was originally produced as Low Calorie IRN BRU in 1980 but was renamed in 1981.

See the Wikipedia article on IRN BRU.

See my other posts on IRN BRU campaigns here at The Inspiration Room Daily.