“Clock Off!” Switching Brian Cox’s Boss Persona for Pink-Suited Roller-Skater

After a long year/month/week/day/meeting at work, many of us are ready to reach for a cocktail. But as Freddy Taylor and Philippa Beaumont, creative directors at Wieden+Kennedy London, note, it’s possible to do one better than just any old cocktail. “Malibu literally tastes like a holiday,” they assert, “so why have a break when you can literally have a holiday? Wild overclaim, but if you want something to take you away from your desk and help you switch off, a piña colada is a pretty good place to start.”

That’s the impulse that drives actor and ‘Succession’ star Brian Cox to ‘Clock Off’ with gusto in Malibu’s latest campaign by Wieden+Kennedy London, as he encourages workers to reclaim their personal time, reinforcing the brand’s commitment to celebrating fun, freedom, and the joy of disconnecting.

Playfully referencing his formidable business leader character Logan Roy, this latest installment of Malibu’s ‘Do Whatever Tastes Good’ campaign reveals his sunnier side as he reminds us that life is too short to spend all day stuck at the office.

The campaign responds to a global survey that highlights a growing issue: the rise of “disguised overtime.” Survey results reveal that Americans aren’t unplugging from their jobs. The average worker juggles 28 lines of communication after hours weekly, adding up to over 17 hours of unpaid overtime per month without even realizing it. 71% of Americans feel pressured to work overtime and one in five Americans report feeling overworked.

The ad opens with Brian Cox trading his signature workaholic intensity for pure summer fun – clocking out at precisely 5:01pm, donning a bold pink suit and vintage roller-skates, and leading a carefree escape down the boardwalk before unwinding on the beach with a Malibu piña colada.

The Malibu team at Pernod Ricard USA knew that they wanted to ground their next iteration of ‘Do Whatever Tastes Good’ in a real consumer insight. “And it’s no secret that it seems like everyone these days is overworked,” says Caroline Begley, vice president of marketing. “We realised that Malibu is the perfect antidote to the ‘hustle culture’ that has overtaken daily life. Everyone feels pressure to perform, perform, perform and Malibu wants everyone to stop and find a little time for an escape every day. We see this especially in gen z who are pushing back on the work culture of previous generations.”

“We chose Brian Cox because in several roles he has played the tyrant of overwork, someone who prioritises work above all,” reveal the creative directors. “He’s iconic for embodying a culture that rewards working yourself into the ground, and one that suggests you’ll only be fulfilled if you reach work goals. That’s our character. But he’s finally had enough in our spot. Contrast and surprise were also super important in the narrative, so we wanted it to be as unexpected as possible, that meant going for someone who you haven’t really seen in ‘holiday mode’. Brian was also the perfect fit for that. We used the nine-to-five as we wanted everyone to relate to this. This is for everyone who’s felt the pressure of overwork, not just the big business people who live for overtime.”

Once the agency team had reached the idea that frames the campaign, they got to work developing it into a script to make the iconic coconut-and-rum-based drink. “There’s the everyday working ‘you’; and there’s summer holiday ‘you’. Two very different states,” venture Freddy and Philippa. “That insight felt creatively rich to us and allowed us to think about who would be the most fun to transform from working mode to holiday mode.”

Enter Brian Cox, wearing pink and telling the world to “clock off” on roller-skates. It’s a fun thought that you can only imagine the thrill of getting the go-ahead to follow through and realise. The CDs were as giddy as you can imagine: “Next time, Lord Voldemort, playing beach volleyball?”

From there, the project took on even more iconic talent in the form of comedy powerhouse director (just one of the multi-hyphenate’s titles) Tim Heidecker. In realising the comic vision, Tim was intent on wanting everything to feel as authentic and real as possible, which meant real roller-skating (not something Brian Cox is practiced at, as you might expect). “So we built a rig to support Brian, had a movement coordinator throughout the production, planned the routine over the weeks, and only asked Mr Cox to do moves he felt he could manage,” say Freddy and Philippa.

In terms of media, this wasn’t made for industry award show juries only. “We wanted to make something real people would actually see,” say the CDs. That meant no two-minute version, and ensuring three things:
1. The story and campaign had to work as well in multiple six-second formats as it did in the 15-second and 30-second.
2. Get people’s attention in the first second by showing something people haven't seen before: “an iconic work-a-holic celebrity wearing roller-skates.”
3. Ensure any branding isn't in people’s face. “Unless it's Nike, most people scroll on when they see a logo, so we try to be a bit more integrated with it,” say Freddy and Philippa.

“I’m proud we’ve got a piece of work with so much personality,” says Philippa. “From the track – a nostalgic banger – to the pink suit, to the sweary short forms, to some of the silly language scattered around the campaign; I think we’ve leaned into the personality of the brand and its drinks but kept it human and fun. We’ve not shied away from ‘basic’ joys, like sunshine, cheesy bangers and roller-skates, but we’ve done it with a level of craft that elevates it.”

Freddy is well aware that we’ve seen their protagonist take on a few commercial roles since his career-defining role as Logan Roy, but this isn’t how he’s appeared in any of the other ads he’s been in. “I’m proud we’ve used him in a way that feels familiar, but is the antithesis of the established character and personality people know him for.”

This is the second instalment of Malibu’s ‘Do Whatever Tastes Good’ campaign, continuing to highlight Malibu’s core value of championing more good times. Caroline sums up: “In this new expression of the campaign, we are using humour and the ironically perfect persona of Brian Cox to remind consumers that life is too short to work after hours, and clocking off on time to head to happy hour can lead to the best kind of fun.”