'Lifestyle Guards' Come to the Rescue With Hard Seltzer

If you ever find yourself drowning—say, after imbibing a tad too much—High Noon’s “lifestyle guards” probably can’t save you. They’re all about helping folks party under the summer sun. Heck, these shirtless studs even carry shrimp in their rescue buoys.

Preacher developed the kooky concept, with ads breaking across TV, online video and paid social.

It’s a low-rent tongue-in-cheek affair. We see all of one guard. In fact, it’s almost a parody of badvertising. But kind of bad itself—in a good way.

So, why spoof lifeguards? Maybe a Baywatch marathon inspired the team?

“When it came time to put a fresh spin on our ‘Sun’s Up’ campaign, we asked ourselves: Who might help our audience live their best day in the sun?” says Preacher creative director Justin Ralph.

“We started thinking about a group of lifeguards who show up wherever there’s a day-hang at the beach, on the golf course, at a tailgate, at a backyard BBQ, etc.,” he says. “Instead of saving lives, they’d save things like deflated pool floaties, or a shrimp that falls between the grill grate.”

“But they’d do it with the same unwavering commitment and sense of duty that actual lifeguards have.”

And their antics address what business goal for the E&J Gallo brand?

“Last year, High Noon expanded their portfolio with the introduction of Tequila Seltzer, and became the No.1-selling spirit in the country,” Ralph says. “This year, they’re out to sustain that momentum/ To do that, the new campaign is highlighting the brand’s entire portfolio for the first time, and uses a mix of sunny optimism, observational wit and surprising humor.”

Also, he believes the campaign has legs—tanned, muscular legs.

“Part of the reason for using the lifestyle guards is for their potential longevity and ability to show up in other places. There’s lots of room to show more of the crew in action and to bring them out into the real world.”

OK, it’s time to talk about fun anecdotes from the shoot. Go!

“Our lifestyle guard (Laith Wallschleger) wasn’t an actual lifeguard, but he did play college football,” Ralph says. “That athleticism came in very handy on set.”

In particular, “One shot involved him flying through the air and dropping a High Noon into an empty cooler, which he executed with grace and precision. Then, of course, there was a lot of running on the beach. And while we see him in slo-mo, he was definitely running in actual-mo. Which is way more tiring. He was just a tremendous sport.” 

He adds: “I also think we may have caused a body oil shortage in the city of Miami that week, because we used A LOT of it. Apparently, that’s how you get really great skin tones when you’re shooting under peak sunlight. The more you know.”

Josh Sorkin directed through Ladybug.