Beadle foils Bond's undercover exposé

As marketing stunts go, JDW's "Mission to Mock" seemed to rank among the best:

First, take an area manager from Cardiff with the name Bond - that's Richard Bond.

Dress him up as a well-known spy whose latest film is about to première.

Send him undercover into rivals' pubs and bars, armed only with a temperature probe, and snap away while he samples their super-chilled dispense.

Print his critical findings in your customer magazine.

Then sit back and smirk at showing punters how your 650-odd pubs serve colder beer than the others.

Marketing bliss for agent Bond and his masters - especially when the Morning Advertiser splashes the hot news story on its front page.

But JDW's head honchos hadn't counted on the white-hot wrath of Que Pasa bar, slagged off in the temperature trawl. When chief executive Paul Beadle checked with his Cardiff manager, he found lagers consistently served at the perfect 3ºC, rather than the reported 10.2 ºC.

Keeping remarkably cool, Beadle drew the faux pas to the attention of JDW and the MA: JDW claimed it was just a bit of fun, while the MA blushed and agreed its coverage of the story was a little one-sided.

So when fast-acting Snif-ter's editor was despatched for proper sampling at Cardiff's handsome Que Pasa, he was more than happy to report the Foster's in fine nick.

And that agent Richard Bond may need a licence to chill before being trusted with a temperature probe again.