‘Why make a commercial when you can make a Bond movie,’ Kevin McKeon, XCD/partner of StrawberryFrog NYC, mused when MiC quizzed him about the mega spot that breaks internationally beginning this weekend. ‘From the director, to the cast, to the location, to the idea itself, that’s how we approached the assignment to do a campaign for Heineken globally in conjunction with the launch of the new Bond Film Casino Royale,’ he explained. ‘With every script I asked, would this pass muster as the world’s shortest Bond film?’

Dubbed ‘Waiter,’ the resulting Heineken commercial does indeed look and feel like a sexy Bond film, partly because unprecedented permission was given by producers Columbia Pictures and Eon to shoot it on the actual Mediterranean set of Casino Royale – and to borrow the film’s star, Eva Green, clad in her Vesper Lynd costume. Not to mention that Academy Award winning director Steven Gaghan, who did Syriana and Traffic, helmed the spot. With the original Bond-themed music setting the mood, she heads for a rendezvous with .007, only to encounter a waiter who seems to be delivering a bottle of Heineken, but may be an assassin sorely in need of thwarting.

A riveting 4:29-minute video on the making of the extravagant ad is currently playing on YouTube – where it’s been viewed more than 7,600 times so far – while the spot itself breaks internationally on a staggered schedule in more than 40 markets, depending on premiere dates. The first showing of the film will be in the UK on Nov. 14 and the Canadian debut date is Nov. 17. The other elements of the Heineken campaign – also starring Eva Green and deployed by Heineken staffers – will continue through February 2007. They include print, outdoor and consumer competitions to win James Bond merchandise.

Check out the 4:29-minute video on the making of Heineken’s Bond-like ad at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=W7kakkQrFgY and the spot itself at: www.heineken.com/casinoroyale