James Bond blows away baddies in Heineken Spectre boat chase ad

But Heineken is banking on the Bond franchise for its big marketing push this year and so here’s “Zara” helping out old Daniel Craig in a lively enough bit of product placement.

Heineken has unveiled a new TV commercial which sees Daniel Craig reprise the role of James Bond in a high-octane boat chase. “Why not a woman? It is the first time the Heineken character is a woman”. Like previous Bond/Heineken ads, it has a sense of humor about 007 – there’s a special cameo from Herve Villechaise and a call-back to Oddjob’s bowler in Goldfinger. It also released an ad campaign ahead of 2012’s “Skyfall”, in which he is taking a sip of the beer that somehow annoyed some of 007’s purists.

A Heineken spokesman pointed out that despite his connection with martinis, there are numerous references to Bond enjoying a cold one in Ian Fleming’s original novels and also in films including On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Quantum of Solace.

If you offered the real James Bond a Heineken, even after saving him from a baddie, he’d probably think you weren’t his kind of girl. In advance of Spectre, 007 has teamed up again with the Dutch beer giant for a madcap commercial that promotes both brands. Also, it includes a bold marketing endeavor that will see competition winners attend at a location outside Las Vegas where the huge beer brand takes the world’s first ever selfie from the outer space. For the stunt, the brand partnered with Urthecast, which is using its camera on the Deimos satellite. Apparently it’s the only Bond “partner” to access Craig. Heineken will also be included in the actual movie, “Spectre”, a brand spokesman recently confirmed to Ad Age, although he did not provide specifics.