Moosehead Breweries wants to celebrate Canadians who have the courage to take on big challenges in a new 360-degree campaign for its flagship beer.

Developed by the brand’s AOR Conflict, the “Pedestal Pints” campaign consists of a series of ads that honor Moosehead Lager consumers who have overcome different challenges, from mustering the confidence to skydive for the first time to facing the uncomfortable “birds and bees” talk as parents. Niall Kelly, partner and creative director at Conflict, tells Media in Canada that the campaign aims to show people in a heroic way, standing on a pedestal and holding a Moosehead Lager as a reward for stepping up to the challenge.

The media plan includes connected TV, online videos, paid advertising on social channels, and OOH spots. The brand also organized an event on June 26 to celebrate Canadian influencers who demonstrate the value of doing new things.

Media Experts is handling media buying and Craft Public Relations is managing PR and influencers. The campaign will run through the summer and early fall.

“Our goal [with the campaign] is to reawaken and reward the courage to go after what’s difficult, by doing so, we wish to continue solidifying Moosehead Lager as the ultimate reward for hard work,” Elizabeth Harroun, senior marketing manager at Moosehead Breweries, tells Media in Canada.

Harroun says they were looking to find a media mix that would help highlight the brand’s message in the channels most consumed by their audience, and especially during the summer, when beer sales are on the rise. Specifically, the campaign targets adults between 25 and 54 years old, mostly male beer drinkers, graduates, full-time workers and those living in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or Alberta, markets where Moosehead has seen the most growth.

Harroun says the brand conducted a segmentation work that showed that this audience is not only the biggest opportunity from a sales volume standpoint, but also the best fit with the brand’s character and attitude. “They are people who share common interests and are reward-driven,” Harroun says.

The work done for this campaign is based on the “Beer With Your Name On It” creative that the brand first launched in 2022. That campaign invited Canadians to share photos of the hard things they had recently accomplished in exchange for a custom-made can of Moosehead Lager with their name on it.

“We felt there was no better follow up than to celebrate everyday people who are accomplishing things they are proud of. At the end of the day, we aim to build fans by motivating them to reach their goals,” Harroun says.

For his part, Kelly says they received a lot of feedback from new and long-time Moosehead fans over the past two years about that campaign. Hearing their stories, he says, gave them inspiration for all the films they created for this year’s campaign.

However, while the campaign is built around the beer, the underlying strategy also reflects the corporate brand, Kelly says. “Moosehead’s brand story is all about celebrating people with the ‘courage to do’ and hopefully reawakening that spirit in others as well.”