Buckley’s has a slightly less awful remedy for coughs and colds [Video]

Who: Buckley’s, with Saatchi & Saatchi for creative and strategy; Zenith for media; Scout’s Honour for production (directed by Mark Zibert); The Pub, and The Vanity for post-production; InLaws Audio for sound.

What: “Sticky Situation,” a campaign that tweaks one of the most famous taglines in Canadian marketing history for a new product launch. 

When & Where: The campaign is live now, and will run through December. Media includes TV, social media, and out-of-home. 

Why: Buckley’s has been around for more than 100 years, and has proudly built its brand around the idea that its terrible taste (like burning pine needles, in the opinion of this writer) is proof of its effectiveness.

That unique bad-taste strategy led Canadian creative great Peter Byrne, then of Ambrose Carr Linton Kelly, to pitch the famous tagline—”It tastes awful, and it works”—in 1986. Buckley’s has used the line ever since, even after being acquired by Novartis in …