Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man” Has Been Replaced By You

The Most Interesting Man in the World was a meme almost immediately upon its debut in 2006. Over the next decade, the Dos Equis spokesperson played by Jonathan Goldsmith struck a chord in pop culture so strongly, that it’s been almost impossible for the beer brand to evolve too far beyond him.

Last year, Heineken-owned Dos Equis left Havas, the ad agency behind The Most Interesting Man campaign, in favor of Droga5. Now in the first campaign from that agency, the work is still heavily steeped in “interesting.”

It’s a different message, but look close enough and you can almost see Goldsmith’s trademark grey beard and grin peering out from behind the bar. His classy shadow still hangs heavy. Droga5 creative director Ryan Raab says the brief was to evolve the brand past The Most Interesting Man himself.

“For today’s drinker, being interesting is less about status, wealth, or power, or accomplishments, which means they don’t necessarily identify with The Most Interesting Man,” says Raab. “The people they find interesting are the ones who are open, present, and engaged with the world around them. Which means that, on any given night, anyone can be the most interesting man or woman with the right attitude. And a big part of being interesting, especially during a night out, is the ability to spin a good yarn.”

The Most Interesting Man is dead. We are all now The Most Interesting Man. Or something like that. Dos Equis already tried reincarnating him, but that went pretty skunky fast and never caught on. And yet here we are dipping back into the “interesting” well. It’s been a staple of the brand’s work for more than a decade, so it’s unsurprising the brand is reluctant to give it up cold turkey. But Raab says it wasn’t a client demand that the new ads somehow involve “interesting.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it a requirement, but thanks to the brand’s incredible work over the past 10 years, they really own ‘interesting,’” says Raab. “So it felt like a natural thread to follow, especially as it relates to storytelling. We just wanted to evolve it beyond one man.”

“Interesting” has become the Energizer bunny of beer, a once dynamic pop culture moment the brand just isn’t able to or interested in moving beyond.