Beck’s

Beck’s is a well-known German beer in America, but it is vastly more popular in the rest of the world then it is here. Because Beck’s has stuck with their original recipe and maintained the same brewing standards for over 130 years, they consider themselves to be a beer that makes the choice to remain authentic. When they came to us, they wanted to create a campaign that could run globally, but would be targeted to those who sought a more authentic experience.

Since the choice of beer for the majority of 25 year-olds is mostly driven by image, habit, or cost, we decided against focusing on the heritage story of Beck’s and instead looked to build a connection with our target by focusing on them. On their desire to be true to themselves as they start making their own decisions in life. Whereas most beer brands focus on parties, babes, and bro behavior, Beck’s wanted to be the beer that championed self-determination and authenticity.

To establish this sophisticated and reflective direction we needed to find a solution that communicated the idea simply and could easily be translated in English, German, Hungarian, Russian, Romanian, Japanese, Greek, French, Flemish, and about six other languages I can’t remember at the moment, but we certainly came across as the lead agency for the worldwide market.

We chose the archetypal image of being faced with two doors to represent choices that lead to different paths. We printed choices on the doors that alluded to either an unseen dilemma or a larger question in life. And though we never see which choice is made, we are reminded as we face the two doors that it is up to us, because “Life is what you choose.”

The Beck’s Doors gave us a tremendous amount of flexibility and enabled us and our global partners to create choices that were both universal and more specific to a country or region, in whatever language was needed. The simplicity of our template and the brand DNA we established allowed the agencies to create a greater number of ads, which only served to make the idea even stronger.

In television, we actually brought to life a few of the dilemmas in travel, career, and relationships. In the middle of each of the spots the hero retreats to an ethereal bar in his mind in order to think it through. This bar eventually became a traveling showpiece for special Beck’s events.

We brought the doors to the internet and created an interactive experience on the Beck’s website where people from different countries were confronted with a variety of choices that determined which path they would take and which new dilemmas they would be faced with. As you made your way through the website you saw the percentage of people who came before you who made the same choice. And chat rooms were set up at the end of each path of choices so you could meet other people who had made the same decisions as you.

We also had a few ideas that we weren’t able to bring to fruition before we left Ground Zero. One of those was to create banner ads that took people on a tour of different websites. We wanted to install two doors on a web page with choices printed on them. The door you clicked on determined what webpage you would be taken to next. On that next page there were two more doors to choose from once you were through exploring the website. This would continue on and on through a series of selected websites.

We also wanted to create live events that replicated the idea on the website. Post giant doors around a major city, and on the doors would be choices and a text number. Participants would punch in the text number associated with their choice and would receive a GPS code, or a Google map location to another set of doors. This would continue through the day, giving people a chance to spend the day cruising the city and meeting new people. At the end of each possible path we would have a pop up Beck’s bar set up for like-minded people to sit and enjoy a Beck’s together. We even suggested having contests to send people to other countries to participate in the event.

ACD/CW: Kristina Slade
ACD/AD: Rodrigo Butori
CW: James Embry, Dan McCormick
AD: Andre Fiorini, Mike Bockman, Noah Clark
CD: Court Crandall
Director: Frederik Bond
Photographer: Vincent Dixon