Dos Equis brought back "The Most Interesting Man in the World" in January 2026 because Heineken USA's research found 83% of people exposed to the original campaign wanted it to return, according to Heineken USA chief marketing officer Alison Payne. The revival restores actor Jonathan Goldsmith, ten years after Dos Equis retired him, as sales of the beer fell in 2025.
Updated October 2026. The 83% figure is Heineken USA's own research and has not been independently verified.
The Dos Equis revival timeline runs from the original 2006 campaign to the January 2026 relaunch, and each step below is attributed to a named source.
| When | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 to 2016 | Jonathan Goldsmith plays the character in the original campaign, created with the agency Euro RSCG, now Havas | The Stable |
| 2009 | The campaign is credited with helping fuel a 15.4% U.S. sales increase for the brand | Wikipedia |
| March 9, 2016 | Dos Equis announces it will replace Goldsmith, whose final ad sends the character on a one-way trip to Mars | Wikipedia, Advertising Week |
| September 2016 | French actor Augustin Legrand debuts as the new Most Interesting Man | Wikipedia |
| 2018 | Dos Equis runs the "Keep It Interesante" campaign | Marketing Dive |
| Early January 2026 | Unbranded teasers introduce "The Least Most Interesting Man" | The Daily Pour |
| January 16, 2026 | Dos Equis announces the revival | CNN via KRDO |
| January 19, 2026 | A 60-second spot, "At Long Last, He's Back," airs during the College Football Championship game | The Stable |
| January 25, 2026 | The next episode airs during the NFC Championship Game | The Stable |
Dos Equis revived the character because sales of the beer fell in 2025 and the original campaign had a strong record. CNN reported that sales of the Heineken-owned lager dropped last year, and Payne told CNN that Dos Equis' volume tripled during the 10 years of the original campaign (CNN via KRDO). Wikipedia separately credits the campaign with helping fuel a 15.4% U.S. sales increase in 2009 (Wikipedia).
The demand figures come from Heineken USA's own research. Payne said 83% of people exposed to the original campaign wanted to see it return, and that the old ads drove 97th percentile brand recall in recent testing (MediaPost). LePub New York's case description cites 84% for the same survey (The Stable), and The Daily Pour noted that the recall figures were not independently verified (The Daily Pour).
Payne has history with the brand. She became chief marketing officer of Heineken USA in January 2025 and led Heineken's Mexican beverage portfolio from 2018 to 2021, according to Marketing Dive.
Between 2016 and 2026, Dos Equis retired Goldsmith, replaced him with Augustin Legrand, and moved on to other campaigns. The brand announced Goldsmith's replacement on March 9, 2016, saying it wanted a version of the character that was relevant to today's drinker, according to Wikipedia's entry on Goldsmith.
Legrand took over in September 2016 and played the role until 2018, when Dos Equis moved to "Keep It Interesante," according to Wikipedia and Marketing Dive. The character then stayed off screen for about eight years. Heineken USA described the gap as "nearly a decade" when it announced the return.
The revival is social-first and built around live events as well as television. The Stable reported that LePub New York's relaunch was social-first, and The Daily Pour reported that Dos Equis planned a mix of television, digital and experiential marketing running through 2026.
The campaign elements reported so far are:
The revived character sits under a new "Stay Thirsty" brand platform, according to Marketing Dive. For Heineken's other recent PR work, see Heineken PR and Marketing: Worlds Apart to Starring Bars.
A revival is a calculated bet, because the beer category is under pressure and Dos Equis sales fell in 2025. Payne told CNN that "the beer category as a whole has had a tough time," that Dos Equis skews heavily toward Hispanic consumers, and that weak consumer confidence and inflation are hurting all Heineken brands (CNN via KRDO).
CNN also quoted an industry analyst who questioned whether enough nostalgia exists among current and lapsed drinkers to restore Dos Equis to a leadership position in a far more competitive Mexican import category. EPR covers the rivals in that category in Modelo 3 Years Later: Who's Challenging It, and the wider picture is in Beer PR and Marketing: Brands, Rankings, Campaigns. For the other big beer reset of the period, see Has Bud Light Recovered? 2026 Sales Data and PR Lessons.
Brands can learn that a revival works best when the equity is measured first and the story is updated instead of repeated. These are EPR's takeaways from the public record.
EPR covers another revival, Budweiser's 2020 return of "Wassup," in the 25 best alcohol marketing campaigns. The decision the evidence supports: revive a character only after testing demand with your own research, and budget for episodes after the reveal.
The 83% demand figure and the 97th percentile recall figure come from Heineken USA's own research, quoted by Alison Payne in a news release and reported by MediaPost. The 84% figure appears in LePub New York's agency case description. The 15.4% sales increase comes from Wikipedia, which credits the original campaign. The Daily Pour noted that the recall figures were not independently verified.
Dos Equis announced the revival on January 16, 2026, according to CNN. The hero spot aired on January 19, 2026, during the College Football Championship game, according to The Stable.
Actor Jonathan Goldsmith plays the character again. He played it from 2006 to 2016, and Augustin Legrand played the role from September 2016 until 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Dos Equis announced on March 9, 2016 that it would replace Goldsmith with a version of the character relevant to today's drinker, according to Wikipedia. His final ad sent the character on a one-way trip to Mars, according to Advertising Week.
Yes. Wikipedia credits the campaign with helping fuel a 15.4% U.S. sales increase in 2009, and Payne told CNN that Dos Equis' volume tripled during the 10 years of the campaign.
LePub New York developed the teaser spots and the relaunch for client Heineken USA, and Ivan Zachariáš directed the hero commercial, according to Inside Beer and The Stable.
No. The 83% figure comes from Heineken USA's own research, and The Daily Pour noted that the brand's recall figures were not independently verified.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team is the staff byline for news, analysis and features on communications, reputation, AI visibility and digital discovery. Everything-PR has published since 2009. AI tools assist with research and drafting, and every article is reviewed by a human editor before publication. Coverage follows the Editorial Policy, and substantive corrections are noted on the article under the Corrections Policy.
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