Pittsburgh Brewing
Company
IC Light Mango Campaign
The Assignment
Pittsburgh Brewing Company, the makers of Iron City Beer and I.C, Light Beer, began in 1861, the year Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president. We were invited to pitch new creative concepts for the launch of a new Summer beer called I.C. Light Mango. The company’s marketing team wanted something that was different than the standard flavored beer advertising that larger competitors were running. They said that they were looking for something irreverent and even risqué to break through the clutter and grab the attention of the younger beer-drinking demographics.
The Solution
Instead of photographing beer bottles and mangos for the ad campaign. we took a pop-art approach - borrowing from an illustration technique popularized by artist Roy Fox Lichtenstein in the 1960’s. To kick-off the campaign, a series of billboards was introduced with the phrase “Is it me… or my Mango?” and “Oh Mango, you saved my summer!” The concept was extended to print advertising, bar promotions and contests where bar visitors could write their own “thought bubble phrase” next to a large I.C. Light Mango banner. Phone photos were then sent to enter the contest.
The “Create Your IC LIGHT Mango Billboard” contest was an in-bar promotion where bar patrons hand wrote their own headline and phone photos posing in front of a IC Light Mango poster. Photo entries were shared and posted online.