Icehouse Is Back Via Square One

Square One is relaunching Icehouse beer in the U.S. with an offbeat $20 million advertising campaign that has consumers doing some of the agency’s work. The new effort carries the tagline, “We’ll make the Icehouse. You make the ads.”

Last year, the Dallas agency posted television, radio and billboard ads inviting the public to send in ideas for commercials. In December, the shop produced 14 concepts from a total of 2,500 entries submitted by amateur scriptwriters and would-be directors.

The result: a rotation of eight intentionally low-budget spots, ranging from a real-life marriage proposal cum beer endorsement to a demonstration of “extreme tap dancing.”

One memorable spot consists entirely of footage of a packed school of catfish, moving their lips and apparently chanting, “Icehouse, Icehouse.”