About Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada revolutionized beer in 1979 when they debuted the first ever American Pale Ale. Known for its brown bottle, green label, and golden scroll, it was quickly picked up by Grateful Dead fans in Northern California and used as currency to help tour with the band. Thus beginning one of the greatest independent brewery and beer stories our country has ever known, and the domino effect that would place one in my hand outside of Alpine Valley Music Theatre in 2012.
Tap Into Nature
To create a campaign for Pale was a surreal experience, especially knowing the brand had an existing partnership with The National Parks Foundation that would need to fall into our creative. This allowed for us to focus on the core values of Sierra Nevada and the modern Pale drinker, and create something that felt aspirational and transportive.
The Pint Motif
We wanted to create a longstanding visual that would improve recall, scream craft, and help viewers focus on the most important pieces of our campaign. So we took the iconic Sierra Nevada pint glass, and outlined it with the brand’s iconic gold.
Evergreen Campaign Execution
We took this powerful motif and placed it over medium format photography. We chose the approach for its warm tones and grainy textures to help make real the handcrafted roots of the brand. The line ‘Taste What Matters’ was derived from Sierra Nevada’s own masterbrand strategy “…because when the moment matters, it matters which beer”.
When all paired together, we’re able to beautifully highlight the brand’s core values and create aspirational work that inspires our audience to enjoy the great outdoors… with a Pale Ale.
National Park Partnership
Sierra Nevada has long been a steward of the land and takes sustainability and environmentalism seriously. Which is why their partnership with the National Parks Foundation feels so right for the brand. For the second year of the partnership, we brought 6 very environmentally diverse parks to life in one shoot. We created a video for each park in the partnership for localized placements.
The National Parks Series - Live in Joshua Tree
To celebrate the partnership, we invited press and content creators to Joshua Tree. Over two days we enjoyed a locally sourced dinner featuring ingredients native to the local environment, a guided hike through the National Park focusing on the local flora and fauna, and a sponsored night of live music at iconic music venue Pappy & Harriet’s featuring The Wood Brothers (so of course we had to make a poster).
