Dos Equis is bringing back “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” the iconic brand character and campaign that it sunset in 2016, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The original campaign ran for a decade and helped to more than triple the size of the beer brand, per parent company Heineken USA’s internal sales volume data.
“It was so iconic, such a part of the brand and we felt it still had a role to play in the current day, even though it had not been around for 10 years,” Heineken USA CMO Alison Payne said of the campaign.
The character returned in unbranded teaser spots during college football playoff games on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 before the launch this week of a teaser campaign across social media platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn. The character, now dubbed the least most interesting man in the world, is shown to have been living a boring life full of jigsaw puzzles, plain yogurt and beige clothing in the suburbs.
The campaign will continue during the College Football Championship game on Jan. 19. A 60-second spot explains how the character lost his edge — by bumping his head and getting amnesia after returning from space — and how he returns to his former glory after finding a Dos Equis in the back of his refrigerator. The character, still played by actor Jonathan Goldsmith, will also participate in a “sailgate” activation on a yacht during the game.
After his return, the Most Interesting Man will continue to appear as part of Dos Equis’ new “Stay Thirsty” brand platform, in a new ad during the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 25 and throughout the year. The campaign was led creatively by LePub NY, in collaboration with Le Truc, and includes Dentsu on media and TAG on social media. Activations are being handled by Amplified while PR and influencers fall under MBooth, with additional influencer work provided by Influential.
Same man, different times
Payne, who began as CMO for Heineken USA in January 2025, is very familiar with Dos Equis: The executive led Heineken’s Mexican beverage portfolio from 2018 to 2021, and oversaw post-Most Interesting Man campaigns like 2018’s “Keep It Interesante” effort.
The return of the Most Interesting Man arrives as nostalgia — for cultural touchstones as well as beloved ad campaigns — remains a frequent strategy for marketers looking to reconnect with old fans and make new ones. For Dos Equis, the character is returning to a different world from the one he left in 2016, where the social-digital media landscape has exploded in size and scope.
“We were very conscious of the fact that it wasn’t just about pressing repeat on what we had before. We have a 10-year archive of fantastic stuff, but it was about modernizing it,” Payne said. “It’s going to play a lot more in the social space. With the ‘I don’t always… but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis’ line, we can lean into whatever’s happening culturally. We now can play a much more active role.”
Also informing Dos Equis’ decision to revive the campaign was the character’s enduring popularity: 84% of consumers exposed to the original campaign want to see it return, with 82% maintaining there is nothing comparable in the category, per the brand’s survey data. That popularity is even seen in audiences that were not of drinking age during the campaign’s original run, as the character has persisted in memes and as a part of internet culture.
“We retested the advertising and it had like 97% brand recall, and that’s really driven by the fact that he lived on in memes, and that famous line became part of pop culture,” Payne said. “We believe that the time was right to to bring him back, but we’re not doing so in a very normal way. As Dos Equis, we always ask ourselves, ‘Could any other beer brand do this?’ And the answer has to be no.”
High hopes despite headwinds
The Most Interesting Man is returning at a difficult time for Dos Equis, parent Heineken and an overall beer category facing headwinds. Heineken CEO and Chairman Dolf van den Brink this week announced plans to leave the company at the end of May, just three months after the beer giant announced an expansive reorganization plan.
Still, beer remains a staple of U.S. households, and while the category is down, imported premium beer, particularly Mexican imports like Dos Equis, are the fastest growing segment, according to Payne, who has high hopes for the new campaign.
“It’s fair to say, [the brand’s] advertising got a little bit safe, a little bit boring. This [campaign] truly does something different,” the executive said. “Ten years ago, it truly broke all the codes of beer category advertising — it wasn’t a bloke standing around a barbecue.”
The brand plans to continue bringing irreverence and unexpected activations to the category, in everything from ads to social content to its point-of-sale materials. And its pitch of Dos Equis as a beer for social gatherings with interesting people is reinforced by the marketing of sister brand Heineken, which has pushed for consumers to put down technology and meet in real life in a series of attention-grabbing campaigns.
“With Dos Equis, we’re encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone a little to have a life full of stories that you can take back to the bar and tell your friends,” Payne said. “He’s not just the Most Interesting Man: He’s very magnetic. People want to be having a beer with him at the bar, because he has a story-rich life, and that’s what is creating real life connections.”
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