Best Campaign on a Budget (under $250,000)
& Best Idea or Concept
Love your Team. Grow the Ivy.
Agency: TRIS3CT
Client: Old Style Beer (Pabst Brewing Company)
In 2009, Old Style beer (from Pabst Brewing Corp.) re-launched its brand with a return to the original, authentically Kraeusened (double fermentation) formula and a new improved taste. Old Style wanted to leverage its position as a local favorite in the mid-west while also reaching a new, younger target audience of males 25 to 29.
Old Style’s sponsorship of the Chicago Cubs is the longest-running sports sponsorship in history, having been together since 1950. Old Style needed to find a way to bring this authentic partnership to life in a smart, surprising and memorable way and make an emotional connection between a locally-appreciated beer and a much-loved baseball team, with a limited budget.
With “Love Your Team. Grow The Ivy.”, the agency created special limited-edition Old Style bottles that actually grew the famous Wrigley Field ivy vines as a person held and enjoyed an Old Style bottle. Chilled, the bottle appeared to be Cubs blue. The more a person drank from the bottle, the more ivy appeared around it. The back of the bottle also featured a quick fact about “The Local Lore of the Friendly Confines.”
The tactic broke new ground with temperature-sensitive, color-changing inks on a large scale. In addition to the sought-after ivy bottles, the promotion also leveraged print to drive awareness.
Point-of-purchase elements included posters, case cards, banners, pennant strings and Cubs pocket schedules.
With limited funds, Old Style 24-pack cases with Cubs and Wrigley Ivy graphics were their own display and could be stacked to create a Wrigley Field ivy wall. Retailers could also add Wrigley’s manual scoreboard to build a dramatic case display.
The promotion hit a home run with retailers who could not keep up with demand. The entire 2009 inventory sold out and orders for 2010 have surpassed expectations.
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