Being from the Pacific Northwest, I can appreciate a marketing campaign highlighting its roots, and incorporating a way to highlight rain in its marketing tactics. In an effort to promote its Fresh Haze IPA, Deschutes Brewery (originating in Bend, Oregon) has recently used a very creative form of social activation to gain traction in comedy with it's new "beer cloud."
Deschutes has partnered with Digital Kitchen to create a cloud of beer that takes only 3 minutes to empty a 50 gallon keg. It stands 9 feet high, and can be seen on location at Deschutes. The strategic way in which they are marketing the creative invention, is by using a funny weatherman along with the beer cloud, giving weather forecasts on both Facebook and Instagram. Aaron Feiger, the group creative director for Digital Kitchen, said "We used social media to turn a weatherman getting drenched in beer into a live, comedically newsworthy event. For a brand to break through with a stunt, it needs to be leveraged beyond just its physical location."
On Facebook and Instagram, the campaign has produced over 2 million impressions, and hundreds of people have physical gone to see the cloud, taking pictures with it and sharing it themselves. This strategy brings out an idea that no one has thought of before as far as I know, and it is not only specific to their beer market, but to them as a Pacific Northwest brewery as well, tying in the rain factor. With all of the fame and recognition Deschutes gets with this beer cloud across social platforms, everything the people see is, in the end, tied to their new Fresh Haze IPA.
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