Vancouver Craft Beer Week wants to tap into “cool seekers” with a quirky video ad that has one hipster dancing for his life.
The spot shows a sweaty bearded man dressed in neon blue leotards and headband doing various dance moves. He finishes awash in suds a la Flashdance just before the ad segues into a bar scene.
Michael Bryden, a partner in Dead Famous, the Vancouver shop behind the ad, said they identified three target groups for the campaign: ‘the beer nerds’ that go to all events; the ‘foodies’ who like to pair up their food and beer, and the ‘cool seekers.’
Dead Famous has also designed a series of posters featuring an open mouth with quirky hula dancers, a cowboy on a kid’s mechanical horse and the dancer that appear in the ad. The idea is that craft beer is a “party in your mouth,” said Bryden.
Chris Bjerrisgaard, the event’s marketing director, said last year – the first year of the festival – was all about capturing the attention of hardcore craft beer drinkers. “This year we realized they are in our back pocket, so we wanted to go after what we’ve defined as cool seekers: 25- to 34-year old urban dwellers who probably work at a tech company, ride a fixed gear bike, live in a trendy area,” and are interested in trying new products and being on the edge.
“The decision was made to not try to sell them on the beer right away,” said Bjerrisgaard. “We wanted to drag them in with the fun and silliness that we have as craft beer drinkers and showcase that we are not a stuffy festival and then educate them once we have them.”
Bjerrisgaard said Craft Beer Week already has a large social media following on Facebook and Twitter and will continue to expand on that through promotions and giveaways.
While beer as a category is decreasing overall, he said, the craft beer market is “on fire”
“In the last couple of years it’s gone from a very niche market catering to British ex-pats and people who liked real ale to this whole new scene of younger beer drinkers who want a better product,” he says. “Beer pairing is becoming just as important as wine pairing at the dinner table.”
