So who’s buying ads these days?

In my industry, there’s much wailing and beating of chests as everyone bemoans the fact that ad sales are way down, and that means revenues are way down. But somebody’s still buying ads, right?

Turns out that Crown Royal (distilled not that far from me, really) has just launched its first American TV campaign in five years.

So, why now, in the teeth of a recession? “Ad Report Card,” one of my favourite columns over at Slate, has a theory:

I’m also fairly certain Crown Royal recognized a zeitgeist opportunity. This is a moment where the brand’s established image—down to earth, unflashy—meshed rather smoothly with external events. In uncertain times, vignettes about people sticking together and helping each other out become suddenly relevant. This is a campaign that seems well timed and conceived to take advantage of a shifting national mood.

Seth Stevenson, who writes “Ad Report Card,” draws some astute distinctions between a “brown” liquor like Crown Royal and a “white” liquor like Grey Goose:

If Grey Goose’s promise is that you’ll get laid on a yacht, Crown Royal’s promise is that your life will brim with purpose and community.

Which approach would you rather bet on these days? Grey Goose sold oceans of vodka in the boom years and became a signature drink of cosmopolitan excess. But the boom is over, and times have changed. America seems poised to transition into a brown spirits state of mind.

It’s not a very frequent column, but I always like to read a new “Ad Report Card.”