Beer Battle
Schützengarten Brauerei & Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
Issue 60 | September 2021
Agency
Wunderman Thompson Switzerland
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Swen Morath Creative Director Samuel Wicki CD, Copywriter Tobias Röben Art Director Kevin Zysset, Digital Art Director Dany Boletas Junior Art Director Cedric Fuchs
Production Team
Shining Film Director, DOP Sirah Nying DOP, Director Matthias Lahoda Supervision Leonardo Sanfilippo
Other Credits
SC Rapperswil Jona Lakers Head of Marketing Michael Bart Brauerei Schu¨tzengarten AG Head of Sales Kurt Moor Head of Marketing & Services Roger Tanner Marketing & Communications Nadin Buschor Business Director Sandro Tschuor Channel and Data Strategist Joelle Seiler
Date
July 2021
Background
Because of the pandemic, supporters of the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers ice-hockey were unable to watch any of the games live.
The team wanted to reward their fans for their loyalty and encourage them to come back to the stadium in the new season.
Idea
When SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers was eliminated from the playoff semi-finals in April, the ice was scraped from the rink immediately after the game.
The resulting water was filtered by the Swiss water purification company evodrop inspected by the cantonal food inspectorate and, finally, given quality approval by the government on July 12th.
Made in red ale style, the Schu¨tzengarten beer was brewed to be ready for the start of the 2021/2022 season.
In the USA, Coors had the same idea and when Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup on July 8th the ice at the Amalie Arena was turned into beer.
Where Coors brewed in days, Brauerei Schutzengarden’s beer required months. They have issued a challenge to the Americans. A taste test once the Schu¨tzengarten beer is ready.
Results
The taste test has yet to take place.
However, media coverage has been extensive, putting a small Swiss beer brand in front of millions who may never have heard of it before.
Our Thoughts
Again, an example of a little local idea getting big (see the story of Ant Brew’s goose-poop beer on pages 82-83).
Someone at the agency or at the brewery in Switzerland was paying attention and the moment Coors cranked up their publicity machine to talk about Coors Light Champions Ice, they were able to write an open letter to the folks at Golden Colorado to disabuse them of their claim to have brewed the world’s first ice-rink beer. I love the fact this became news in sports media. In Switzerland, they’d love it, a small Swiss company tweaking the tail of an American monster. The message behind the challenge, though, is a wonderfully oldfashioned product claim. Our local beer’s better than those foreign imports because it’s brewed longer. I buy that.