The Creatives Room

Beer Advertising

Beer advertising has produced some of advertising's most celebrated creative work, largely because the category has historically allowed - even demanded - genuine creative ambition. Guinness's 'Surfer' is regularly cited as the greatest TV commercial ever made. Carlton Draught's 'Big Ad' parodied epic advertising while being one itself. Budweiser's 'Whassup' became a global cultural moment. What unites the best beer advertising is an understanding that beer isn't a product people think much about - it's something they feel something about, and advertising's job is to be part of that feeling.

The campaigns in this collection

  1. The Naked Pint - Richard Oriolo · 2009

    Cover for a craft-beer guide. Replacing the foam head with raw hops and barley shows beer "naked" - stripped back to its natural ingredients, exactly the unadulterated approach the book promises.

  2. Vikings - Valhalla · 1947, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

    Valhalla is where Viking warriors went after dying in battle to face Odin. The barbershop that took the name uses it to open 2026, casting the men who arrive with big beards as warriors presenting themselves, and the shop as the hall that receives them.

  3. Seek the Seal - Brewers Association · 2019

    "Seek the Seal" for the Brewers Association: a lone figure on a hilltop at dusk dramatises the quest to seek out the independent-craft seal and support genuine independent brewers.

  4. Luck Doesn't Play - Corona · 2018

    "Luck Doesn't Play" for Corona: a pensive figure in a decisive moment underlines the idea that outcomes are earned through effort, not luck - the belief the brand rallies behind.

  5. Born The Hard Way - Budweiser · Anomaly · 2017

    The story of Adolphus Busch leaving Germany and grinding his way across America - abused, soaked, told to go back where he came from - until he reaches a St Louis bar and meets Eberhard Anheuser. The insight is that the most all-American beer in the country was founded by an immigrant who was not we

  6. Courtside - Michelob ULTRA · 2020

    When COVID-19 forced the NBA to play in a fan-less "bubble," it created an experience problem for the league and its sponsors. Michelob Ultra’s "Courtside" idea was built on the insight that the crowd is an irreplaceable part of the game's energy for players and viewers. The execution used Microsoft

  7. I Am Canadian: The Rant - Molson Canadian · Bensimon Byrne · 2000

    An ordinary man walks onto a stage and, with rising fury, lists what Canadians are not - not a lumberjack, not a fur trader, does not live in an igloo - before roaring that he is Canadian. The insight is that Canadian identity is largely defined in the negative, as everything American culture assume

  8. Welcome Back, Paisano - TECATE · Rock The Agency · 2026

    A film cutting between US worksites - a restaurant, a farm, a construction site - where managers complain about the Mexican workers who are no longer there, and the same workers back in Mexico, joking about the reputation they left behind. Behind it sits a real employability platform: Tecate committ

  9. Tocayos - Heineken · LePub

    To stand out during Mexico's hyper-partisan 'Clásico Nacional' football match, Heineken tapped into the cultural tension of polarization to find an unexpected point of common ground. The creative idea was built on a surprising coincidence: the managers of both rival teams were namesakes ('tocayos').

  10. Paid Through Parents - Molson Coors Beverage Company · DDB Chicago · 2021

    Olympic rules sharply restrict who may sponsor an athlete - so Molson signed the athletes' parents instead, put them in branded kit, and routed the money to the athletes through them. The insight is that the regulation governs the athlete, not the family standing behind them. The strategic problem i

  11. Lap of Legends - Michelob Ultra · wieden+kennedy · 2023

    Forty-five years of Williams race telemetry was used to reconstruct legends like Mario Andretti and Jenson Button as AI avatars, then raced against a real driver, live at Silverstone. The insight is that the argument fans never stop having - could the greats of one era have beaten another - has an a

  12. Face The Darkness - Spec Ad - Einstök - Spec Ad · motioneaters · 2015

    To differentiate Einstök's craft beer in a crowded market, this spec ad rejects traditional lighthearted beverage tropes to lean into the brand's rugged, mythic Icelandic heritage. The campaign taps into the consumer insight that craft beer enthusiasts crave bold, sensory trials and are drawn to the

  13. The Coors Light - Coors Light · Mischief New York · 2022

    Coors Light capitalised on an unscripted sports moment to drive cultural relevance without traditional, pre-planned advertising. When superstar baseball player Shohei Ohtani hit a line drive that broke an LED billboard displaying a Coors Light can at Citi Field, the brand quickly turned the stadium

Why this collection is worth studying

The beer category is unusual in advertising for the degree of creative latitude brands historically gave their agencies. The product difference between most lagers is negligible; the brand difference is everything. That has created an environment where ideas matter more than product claims - and where the best work has been genuinely, unambiguously great.

See also

Best Beer Ads & Campaigns - The Creatives Room