Pioneering California brewery Lagunitas Brewing Company has appointed Canvas Worldwide as its U.S. media agency of record, following an internal review.
The appointment follows a multistep review process lasting about four months, according to a source with knowledge of the review. Lagunitas previously worked with Stripe Theory, which was recently acquired by Acceleration Community of Companies.
Canvas Worldwide will be responsible for all media communications, planning and activation responsibilities in the U.S. for Lagunitas, leading the account from its Los Angeles office.
“We are thrilled to kick off a great new partnership with Lagunitas, a passionate brewer of the No. 1 IPA in the world,” Canvas Worldwide CEO Paul Woolmington said in a statement. “They’ve been connecting beer lovers from coast to coast for more than 25 years, and more recently taken their famed IPAs worldwide. We couldn’t be more excited to help share their love for brewing with the world at large!”
“One of our mantras at Lagunitas is that ‘it’s good to have friends,'” Lagunitas CMO Paige Guzman added. “And I believe our new partnership with Canvas is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We’re stoked to welcome the Canvas team into the Lagunitas family and are looking forward to working with them to tell the story of Lagunitas and our ‘Ruthlessly Delicious’ IPAs to a wide range of new audiences.”
Canvas Worldwide, Adweek’s Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year for 2020, already served as U.S. media agency of record for Heineken, which fully acquired Lagunitas in 2017. Canvas helped Heineken successfully roll out its alcohol-free beer Heineken 0.0 last December. Lagunitas also introduced a nonalcoholic offering last year, the IPA-inspired Hoppy Refresher. Lagunitas largely operates independently from Heineken, including its marketing strategy and practices.
“The connection back to Heineken was relevant in that it probably gave us more insights into the benefits of best practices,” Woolmington told Adweek, adding that while the relationship with Heineken was likely beneficial in the process, Canvas was also able to establish its ability to best serve Lagunitas’ specific needs in a media agency partner. He also noted that the two accounts will be run out of offices on opposite coasts.
The agency’s first campaign with Lagunitas is expected to run in mid-December. “In these times, you need to be able to spring quickly into action,” Woolmington said.
