Old Milwaukee was losing 8% market share per year as consumers were either dying off or switching to other liquors. The company wasn’t doing any marketing, and they hadn’t freshened their packaging graphics in years.
The big idea behind this new campaign was to build awareness among males 21 - 25 with sweepstakes and promotions, the first of which was an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Pro Bowl in Honolulu.
To create shock value and take advantage of a fun play on words, I created this campaign that “vandalized” the brand name by replacing “waukee” with “waikiki”. Though many people in the industry though what I’d done to the brand was despicable, this packaging nevertheless went on to win an award.
The eye-grabbing image of a football crashing through the packaging was used as the central icon on all of the point-of-sale promotion items.
Thanks to this promotion, Old Milwaukee reversed its trend, increasing sales by 4%.