Last August, A-B InBev selected Droga5 to handle creative duties for its growing Best Damn Brewing Co. alcopop line, with the agency resigning work on Heineken’s Newcastle and Strongbow Cider brands in the process.
Now Droga5 has debuted its first work for the brand, introducing Best Damn Cream Soda and Best Damn Sweet Tea with its “These are the Best Damn Times” campaign, built around two 30-second and one 15-second spots.
The campaign is a “kind of refresh” which will see the brand “offer another flavor in the flavor war of hard sodas,” Best Damn Brewing Co. senior director Kathy Sattler told Adweek. “The consumer for this is someone who is really motivated by flavor [and something] new, so we’re putting out new versions and new flavors and options for them to choose.”
Translation: The consumer for this is someone in their young twenties who wants an alcoholic beverage that tastes like soda.
“Literally” introduces the approach and is constructed around the all-too-common misuse of that word. When a young guy says he’s “literally” so hungry he could eat a horse, a black-and-white portrait is quick to correct him. Best Damn Cream Soda, on the other hand, is literally aged on vanilla beans. As it so happens, another portrait was hungry enough to eat his horse.
The 15-second “Moving,” which introduces Hard Sweet Tea (eew), unfortunately, is built around the same premise — as applied to “literally” dying from the pressures of moving. “Selfies,” meanwhile, sees a group of portraits express their disdain for a group of youngsters’ incessant need to photograph themselves.
“We’re building a brand platform,” Sattler added. “Best Damn is going to have hard sodas, we have fruit brews, and at the end of March, we’re going to do a pilot, and we’ll have [a hard] sweet tea. So what’s very exciting for Anheuser Busch is that we’ve come across a brand platform that can continuously meet the needs of people looking for a change of pace.”
Credits:
Client: BEST DAMN Brewing Co./Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Campaign: These are the BEST DAMN times.
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Matt Ian
Senior Copywriter: Nicholas Bauman
Senior Art Director: Sean Park
Copywriter: Kathryn Kvas
Art Director: Vignesh Seshadri
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Co-Director of Film Production: Jesse Brihn
Co-Director of Film Production: Bryan Litman
Senior Producer, Film: Bill Berg
Producer, Film: Jacob Vogt
Music Supervisor: Ryan Barkan
Music Supervisor: Michael Ladman
Associate Director, Business Affairs: Librado Sanchez
Business Manager, Integrated Production: Grant Thompson
Director of Art Production: Cliff Lewis
Producer, Art: Frannie Schultz
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Co-head of Strategy: Harry Román-Torres
Strategy Director: Nick Maschmeyer
Senior Communications Strategist: Michael Pignone
Account Director: Stephanie Thiel
Account Manager: Tori Tessalone
Senior Project Manager: Joe Watana
Project Manager: Tessa Muchura
Associate Legal Counsel: Erica Palaia
Client: BEST DAMN Brewing Co./Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
VP of BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Rashmi Patel
Sr. Director, BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Kathy Sattler
Sr. Associate Brand Manager BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Marni Baron
Sr. Manager, Insights Anheuser-Busch, Inc.: Van Blackwood
Production Company: HUNGRY MAN
Director: Conor Byrne
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Kevin Byrne
Executive Producer/Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Executive Producer: Caleb Dewart
Executive Producer/HOP: Jacki Sextro
Producer: Tyler Byrne
Production Supervisor: Chad Alburtis
Editorial: Cosmostreet
Editor: Aaron Langley
Editor: Craig Deardorff
Assistant Editor: David Otte
Executive Producer: Maura Woodward
Producer: Luiza Naritomi
Post Production: Eight VFX
Executive Producer: Alyssa St. Vincent
VFX Supervisor: Yannick Leblanc
Flame Lead: Luc Job
On Set VFX Supervisor: Kathy Siegel
VFX Producer: Michael McCarthy
VFX Coordinator: Patricia Burgess
Color: Aline Sinquin
Music: duotone
Creative Director: Jack Livesey
Executive Producer: Ross Hopman
Producer: Giovanni Lobato
Sound: duotone audio post
Mixer: Andy Green
Executive Producer: Greg Tiefenbrun