Pabst Blue Ribbon was enjoying what can only be described as a total f*%ing lucky break. The brand was propelled back into relevance by a hipster crowd who started ordering it specifically because their grandpa drank it and nobody else did.
We had three responsibilities: (1) Don’t screw it up, (2) Extend the brand’s reborn relevance to retail, and (3) Don’t screw it up.
Numbers one, two and three were the tricky part. Suburban moms go to retail. Big macro brands construct huge Super Bowl displays at retail. How could the brand stay true to its ironic resurgence while still competing and securing incremental display space at the mecca of un-ironic, commercial gluttony - the grocery store?
We came up with a three-part answer.
Part 1 - We needed a beer drinking holiday.
Not just any beer drinking holiday. One that no other brand would touch with a 10-foot pine. We circled all the other, more traditional, retail holidays on a calendar and found our little piece of white space: Arbor Day. That's right, trees. We created a few outdoorsy PBR dealer loaders and set up camp when other brands were taking a siesta between opening day and Cinco de Mayo. Retailers loved it. The brand was all about it. And the cynical PBR hipster didn't totally hate it (which is the highest form of praise we could hope for).
Part 2 - Show the big guys that we get sports games too.
The big brands loved a good sports ball match. But sometimes you want to get off the sidelines and into the game, which creates a fistful of problems. Their games required one too many hands. So in the dead of Summer, we helped beer drinkers beat the heat with a retail program that let you fire up your competitive side while always keeping one hand free for an ice-cold PBR. We stocked retailers with incremental cases of Blue Ribbon and branded, one-handed game display enhancers like bocce ball, bags and horseshoes sets.
Part 3 - Cross-Promote Like we've never cross-promoted before.
Sure, it makes sense to stock up on beer and nacho chips for the big game. Or maybe roll out a grill and fire up a BBQ program during the summer. But we were pretty confident the award-winning flavor of PBR paired well with everything. To prove it, we commissioned the official PBR cookbook, full of recipes that had one Blue Ribbon ingredient in common. After that, the whole grocery store was our cross-promotional partner in a tasty program that brought out the foodie in our hipster crowd. Now we're cooking' with beer.
Art Direction - Jeremy Smick & Charlie Smith
Copywriting - Travis Ulmer & Matt Jensen
Creative Direction - Terry Stewart