I have a confession to make, I skip ads. That’s right, I often leave the room after skipping the episode right to the end of the digital episode  and then come back to watch it all in one go without the pesky ads.

But every now and then there are a few commercials where I will actually sit and watch, rather than finding something to kill those 30-60 seconds that feel like eternity. Few advertisements have caught the attention of the public, target audience and advertising world as Dos Equis – The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign.

If viewing the commercial for the first time, one might think this is a  Whiskey or Cognac commercial, but you would be wrong. Its beer.

Dos Equis’s brand spokesperson/symbol is a gray-bearded man engaging in a series of adventurous pursuits: close-combat sparring, jumping off a plane in a kayak, piloting a motorboat full of beauty-pageant winners, lifting two nurses simultaneously at a party.  He lives vicariously through himself. He is the most interesting man in the world.

While, most campaigns rarely last a few years. The most interesting man in the world campaign has been running since 2007. Of course what really sticks about this ad is the tag line. “I don’t always drink beer,” he says, “but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty, my friends.”

The brand certainly took a bold approach to advertising in the beer category, which typically targets 20-30 year old men with humor laden ads featuring their peers. Well for one the advertising clearly makes an impact. The grainy spots, mix humor with old world charm and charisma. I would even go so far as to call this an aspirational brand play, with a focus on standing apart from the frat boy advertising. This truly an integrated marketing campaign with TV spots, print, interactive, out-of-home (OOH) and event marketing components.

Now I don’t always watch commercials but when I do its Dos Equis.

So what do you think of the Dos Equis campaign? Do you find it odd that the brand spokes person is so divergent from the target audience?