• by Aaron Baar , July 6, 2009

There's nothing wrong with being a bit complex, especially if you're a "potent potable" such as an alcoholic beverage -- at least in Tanqueray's world.

The Diageo-owned gin brand has launched its first global advertising campaign with the tagline "Resist Simple," to highlight its complex flavors and "mouth feel." One television commercial touts "angelica, juniper, coriander and still more inconveniently sourced, hand-selected ingredients," as it tells the story of how the gin is truly a "cocktail" before it goes into a man's drink (shown by a floral silhouette of the bottle around his glass).

The drink "sets off a wake-up call subtle as a tickle fight" in the mouth of a man visiting a (possibly no-longer) ex-girlfriend, as they roam Paris with a group of friends who manage to visit the city multiple times without once going to see the Eiffel Tower, Mona Lisa or the Arc de Triomphe.

Another commercial quickly runs through the ingredients, noting that "it's not what everyone is having, but is definitely what the guy who talks his way backstage is having." In both television commercials, the visuals are conveyed through layered versions of Tanqueray's bottle in silhouette.

"Resist Simple is about people who detour from the status quo, the predictable, the ordinary, going out of their way to experience a more animated, interesting life," explains Kate Price, brand director, Tanqueray USA, in a statement. "This includes a refined approach to what to drink. Tanqueray, with its sophisticated, un-simple taste, is for people with a taste for life."

One out-of-home execution features the headline: "Keep your tongue guessing," while another defines the Tanqueray & Tonic (referenced as a "T&T") as: "A Many Splendored Thing and Tonic."

The global campaign -- from Wieden + Kennedy in Amsterdam, launched in the U.S. last week -- capitalizes on holiday weekend festivities. The effort will roll out in other countries in September.