By ELIZABETH OLSON, New York Times - THERE are certain
Bruce Willis signatures — the bald head, the self-deprecating humor and the cockiness — and he brings them all to a new campaign for Sobieski vodka. Mr. Willis serves as the brand’s celebrity spokesman, and he owns a small percentage of the Polish vodka maker’s parent company.
In a series of “Bruce Has Ideas” commercials, which began appearing online this week, he makes it clear he has a stake in the company. At the same time, he pokes fun at himself, saying, in one ad, “No, I’m not just an action hero with rugged good looks and some singing ambitions.”
In wry exchanges with Sobieski’s chief executive, Krzysztof Trylinski, Mr. Willis also concedes, humorously, that he is not an expert in distilled spirits, asking in one commercial: “What the heck does
Bruce Willis know about making vodka? Nothing.”
The ads are part of a digital and print campaign by Sobieski Vodka of North America, which entered the American market three years ago and used a back-to-basics theme to promote its rye-based vodka, the top seller in Poland.
Mr. Willis, who advertised wine coolers in the 1980s for Seagram’s, is part of Sobieski’s effort to counter the fancy packaging or lavish settings used by its competitors to market vodka, which is about one-third of the American distilled spirits market.
