London Craft Brewery Punks BrewDog’s Ad Campaign

The fourth episode of the final season of Game of Thrones attracted millions of viewers in the UK. And Scottish punk brewers, BrewDog, took that opportunity during a Sky TV’s ad break to introduce a new ad campaign that one East London brewery has begun punking them back with.

Here’s the deal…

With a heavy metal soundtrack by Meshuggah blaring in the background, BrewDog’s Game off Thrones spot simply featured the brewery’s Punk IPA in front of the word ADVERT (that’s British for advertisement).

BrewDog’s 30 second commercial, which was created by Uncommon Creative Studio, and billed as “the most honest ad you might ever see” served as the launch of an even larger campaign featuring print social media and billboards, all featuring the word ADVERT with the brewery’s Punk IPA in front of it.

And now, according to the Drinks Business, an East London craft brewery having its own fun at the expense of BrewDog’s extensive campaign.

Punking Scotland’s punk brewers, Forest Road Brewing Co in Hackney, is urging its fans to take pictures of themselves holding bottles of its Work IPA, covering BrewDog’s Punk IPA with its own flagship and sharing those images on Instagram and Twitter.

Beer fans who follow Forest Road’s suggestion can claim a free pint from Forest Road Brewing’s Tap Room in Hackney by showing their picture to the bar staff.

Aaron Howard, part of the advertising team behind Forest Road’s renegade campaign, said BrewDog’s ads are fun, but “not very punk – especially given that they said a couple of years back that they would never advertise.”

And Pete Brown, the founder of Forest Road Brewing seconded that emotion…

“As much as we love that BrewDog are flying the flag for craft beer, the smaller, independent craft beer breweries like us simply can’t afford to spend this sort of money on media.”

“So we loved the fact that this idea means we can get our name out there for free, and hijacking the BrewDog ad with our beer is a fun way to do it.”