Taxi Vancouver has landed its first beer client, Phillips Brewing Co Ltd., one of British Columbia’s largest independent craft brewers.
Taxi Vancouver general manager Mike Leslie said the agency’s mandate is to grow the brand, while not losing its small-scale brewery feel and reputation.
“One of our big objectives is not forgetting who they are. They are very much a craft brewery, we want to stay true to that heritage and those traditions that they have,” Leslie said of the Victoria, B.C.-based beer maker behind such labels as Blue Buck, Hop Circle IPA, Bottle Rocket ISA and Longboat Chocolate Porter.
Leslie said Taxi Vancouver had just finished a strategy meeting in which they talked about approaching Phillips as a client, when they got the call from the brewery saying it was looking for a brand boost and was going to chat with a few agencies.
According to Leslie, Phillips was drawn to some of Taxi Vancouver’s past work, including the cheese rolling festival it initiated for the Dairy Farmers of Canada in 2008.
“Things like that were quite compelling to them because it feels local, its grassroots and its actively engaging their audience in a way that fits their brand,” he said.
Taxi Vancouver will start its work with Phillips by doing some brand planning and research, with a goal of launching a campaign this summer, which is a key season for beer marketing.
“Taxi is good at emotionally being able to connect brands with target audiences. Once we have a clear understanding of who that is we’ll help Phillips do that a little bit better,” said Leslie.
His team is looking forward to working on the campaign.
“Generally beer tends to be a fun project to work on, [with a] decent amount of creative opportunity,” Leslie said. “It’s good for social morale to work on a beer client.”
Matt Phillips, owner of Phillips Brewing, said Taxi Vancouver would work closely with his team on “non-traditional assignments,” while sticking to Phillips’ craft heritage.
“With our focus being on brewing beer, we don’t always do the best job of telling our beer’s story. We are excited to be joining forces with Taxi to help relay our passion to our customers,” said Phillips.
