R&B Brewing eschews traditional advertising and polished packaging, so when the 15-year-old Vancouver-based company wanted to launch Raven Cream Ale and East Side Bitter in six packs, ad agency Saint Bernadine Mission Communication was careful to keep the work focused on a grass roots vibe.
The new product’s package art is completely hand-drawn, from the West Coast raven to the product information, brewery map and even the bar code.
“They are very authentic, they are very focused on their craft and their aspirations are not necessarily large, but rather good and interesting,” said David Walker, agency partner and co-creative director. “We thought that if these guys are dedicated to creating hand crafted projects, their packaging should reflect that.”
“It’s quite labour intensive, but artsy and reflective of their voice,” said Walker.
Walker also wanted to do something unusual to launch the packaging and settled on exploding beer and rock bands to celebrate these “East Van Originals.” Local photographer Alastair Bird put plastic wrap around a speaker, put the speaker on its back and covered the woofer with beer. He then cranked up the music from six participating bands: You Say Party, Elizabeth, Mystery Machine, 3 inches of Blood, Rich Hope and DOA.
Bird shot the bass-bounced beer with a high-speed camera and the resulting images were put on six canvasses and displayed at the agency’s own Kee’s Laundry Gallery. People can scan a code that appears on each canvass to listen to the song that inspired each execution.
Alastair Bird poured beer over a Saran-wrapped speaker, blasting music through the brew
