Fat Tire Says Its Beer Pairs Well With People Rather Than Bikini-Clad Mud Wrestlers

Just to prove beer marketing isn’t always about barely-dressed women mud wrestling in a public square, Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing is out with a Cultivator Advertising & Design-created campaign for its Fat Tire beer brand that is far more intelligent than oh, say, the Swedish Bikini Team. In fact, it’s a wonderful celebration of human nature, ingenuity and downright goofiness that does a great job highlighting the campaign’s “Pairs Well With People” branding.

The campaign includes digital elements along with print, TV and sweepstakes. One of the digital elements is a quiz/survey which site visitors can take. By answering a few basic questions  (“I’m happiest with a ____ in my hand,” “My spirit animal is a _______” or “You’ll never catch me wearing _____”), New Belgium will pair the visitor  with a Fat Tire experience. Some examples include bike jousting, cyclocross or bike dancing.

There’s also a mobile app which brings bike jousting to mobile phones through a fast-paced, multiplayer game, which users can download for Android or iOS. The game puts players in the bike seat to play against friends.

Those on Twitter or Instagram can post pictures of things they think pair well with Fat Tire beer, add the hashtag #pairswell and their image will appear in the #pairswell gallery on the Fat Tire website.

And there’s a sweepstakes too. Those who simply create an account with the brewer using email, Facebook, Twitter or Google+, share content to their social sites, use the Bike Joust mobile app or another app called Beer Mode or simply subscribe to emails alerts will be entered to win a trip to Tour de Fat in San Diego.

TV spots airing in 13 markets round out the campaign.

The first of three spots opens on some tough-looking, bearded, helmeted, and black leather-clad bikers, as they gear up to roll. They are the“Chopaderos, a bike club which is into “togetherness, drinking and blowing people’s minds with our wild looking chops.” The ad is tagged “Pairs well with Choppers/Easy Riding/Freedom/People.”

Junkyard showcases the Junkyard Cyclocross which is hosted by Bilenky Cycle Works in Philadelphia. In the ad, guys saw through twisted scrap metal car parts to build a race course. They then don purple tutus and yellow dresses and have a race. The ad is tagged “Pairs well with Recycling/Cow Bells/Victory/People.”

In the third spot, Joust, combatants suit up and go Medieval. They’ve got football helmets for armor, tall-frame bikes for steeds, and lances tipped with a padded boxing glove. It’s still painful, but bike jousting clubs happily compete across the country. The ad is tagged “Pairs well with Grass Stains/Ice Packs/People.”

What’s wonderful about this campaign is that it provides so many different paths through which people can experience the brand. Multiple entry points. Multiple paths of experience. And multiple chances those experiences will turn into sales for the brand.

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