Widmer: Let’s Beer Friends Campaign

A fresh and friendly summer campaign re-introducing an established Portland craft brewery centered around connection and friendship.

The core strategy of the campaign was centered around the places people come together and enjoy a beer. Whether that’s at a backyard bbq, together at a concert, or after a long hike, those beer worthy moments are best enjoyed with friends.

This tagline served as the anchor of the campaign and rooted the ‘better together’ strategy in an approachable yet confident manner. To give the campaign its own identity, we developed a lockup that felt familiar to the Widmer brand but could confidently stand on its own.

The campaign was initiated with a set of billboards around the Portland metro area.

Each piece featured the tagline lockup and a set of hands sharing a Hefe, set in a cheerful summer scene. We executed a full photo shoot to establish the right hand expressions and situations. Each shot was planned around specific summer scenes like a backyard pool, hiking trail, and a beach sunset to name a few. Subtle details like clothing choice and jewelry were key to making each scene feel more authentic.

We leveled up the campaign with motion utilizing a snap shot style stop motion aesthetic.

During the photoshoot we captured additional frames of each setup to get a subtle sense of movement that could be animated. I built each animation in Photoshop to better establish the stop motion look, tweaking the timing of each frame to feel natural yet stylized. The motion really brings the whole campaign to life and we saw solid increase in engagement across the Widmer social platforms.

The campaign saw success in the market seeing decent traction across social channels and a continued rise in beer sales.

Some behind the scenes look at the campaign photoshoot.

Here we worked directly with the client in the photo studio going through each setup and ensuring all styling and product looked perfect. We also updated all of the product shots to better encapsulate the new branding and can designs.

Working on this campaign was truly exciting and we achieved a lot with a small team. I gained valuable insights throughout the project and even got to expand my animation skills.

  • Asset Creation, Motion Design, Photo Comping, Production Design, Photoshoot Support

  • mid 2023 With Plastic Sunshine

  • Louis Carlton: Executive Creative Director

    Jess Raddatz: Freelance Art Director