Icehouse Beer

Situation: Ice brewing was about to be introduced to the US via Canada and The Miller Client wanted to be the first American brewer to roll out an ice beer. They asked us to create a campaign for their first entry that would educate the American public as to what the benefit of ice brewing was (more alcohol). The idea was to roll out Ice-Brewed Icehouse Beer from their Plank Road Brewery and once America was comfortable with the ice brewing concept introduce new Miller Lite Ice to the masses. Solution: Miller wanted Plank Road to be their answer to the micro breweries. So we created this little brewery filled with dedicated folks truly proficient in brewing quality beers but having absolutely no concept of how to market them. Our mantra became “Brewed by professionals, advertised by amateurs.” The hand lettered approach* in the print and folksy long copy proved to be the perfect vehicle to get the ice brewing message out. Icehouse became the most successful new product launch in Miller's history. By the time Miller Lite Ice was introduced six months later the market was saturated with ice beers and Lite Ice failed. *I hand lettered all the copy which later forced us to develop the Murphy Headline font so the promotions agency could continue the brand look for their materials. Ironically, the font later found it’s way onto Fisher-Price ads, web design and packaging.