Pabst Blue Ribbon
Film // Social // Digital // Print
You don't have to advertise to advertise.
How we helped a very non-traditional brand post it’s best performing year on social.
For Pabst’s 175th year on Earth, we were tasked with one job: Keep PBR in the cultural conversation. Part of that was planning ahead for projects for the big Demisemiseptcentennial anniversary, but also keeping our ear to the ground for ways the brand could make some noise in their own PBR-ish way.
The year started quite traditional, however.
At the end of 2018, PBR was in a litigation battle with Miller/Coors over brewing rights at a M/C owned brewery. Pabst wanted to make something that stated their case: Win, lose, or draw, they took a stand against a larger corporate bully.
So we wrote a statement piece and bought full page ads in several newspapers in Miller/Coors backyard--just for a little body shot to Goliath’s solar plexus. The ads also ran on the back page of Vice Magazine, as well as, PBR’s Instagram.
Oh, by the way, Pabst won.
Pay it Furloughed
When our federal employees were out of work for weeks due to the government shutdown, we created a platform for Americans to buy furloughed employees a beer, redeemable at hundreds of bars across the nation. Over 50,000 beers were purchased and served during the two week lifespan of the platform.
Over 50,000 beers were purchased and served during the two week lifespan of the platform.
PBR // AR Lens
The brand turned 175 last year, so we created a Facebook AR lens
that allowed fans to turn any Pabst into a can from the past 175 years.
The PBR
99-pack
We promoted their 99-pack on social. Where we posted 99 pictures of a Pabst beer in the Instagram Stories to show people exactly how many beers they'd get (the maximum story posts for 1 day is 100, so it worked out pretty perfect).
We hid special discount codes and prizes in the stories for extra diligent fans to find in the WAY TOO LONG story post.
It crushed all PBR's social records to date.
The Tallest Boy
But we weren't done crushing records. We also created a new product: A 175 ounce Tall Boy, The Tallest Boy, for their 175 year anniversary. It outperformed any other initiative to date.
