IC Light

Objectives
With a new president at the helm, Pittsburgh’s Iron City Brewing Company set out to change its image from a staid, strictly local brand to one with hip, national appeal, from a business that had experienced financial troubles to a responsible corporate citizen. To that end, the brewery turned to Ronin Advertising Group to develop a vibrant new image and Markowitz Communications to generate the positive buzz.

Insights
Timing isn’t everything, but it sure can’t hurt. Just as our creative team hit the ground running, the Pittsburgh Steelers began their triumphant march to the Super Bowl – a feat Ronin would fatefully dub the “Road to the Six Pack”. (We don’t mean to brag, well maybe just a little bit, but the Steelers were five-time champions going in to the 2009 big game.) Still, we faced some challenges. First, despite the fact that Iron City and IC Light are hometown brews, they have no official affiliation with the Steelers. And second, because of copyright infringements the words “Super Bowl” and “Steelers” were out of bounds in any press materials or pitches.

Groundwork
Working together with Ronin like the Steelers’ offensive line, we established a specific pitching schedule that complemented the agency’s IC Light ad buy, as well as the NFL playoff schedule. We kicked off our game plan by saturating the Pittsburgh media with the announcement of our “Road to the Six Pack” campaign and then methodically expanded our pitching radius to include the entire east coast.

Strategy
Our PR playbook called for new, updated releases to be sent out prior to every Steelers’ playoff game. Our goal was to have fans and media alike thinking that the Steelers and IC Light were the perfect combination. And just to top off the deal, by the time the team brought home the Lombardi Trophy, Iron City Brewing was already preparing to release a championship can commemorating the occasion.

ROI
Iron City Brewing’s “Road to the Six Pack” and the Steelers’ drive to the Super Bowl became synonymous. Even some of the players caught the drift -- or draft. For example, Big Ben Roethlisberger was quoted in USA Today calling his team’s sixth championship the “Iron City Six Pack”. Yes, the story went national (appearing above the fold in USA Today and on NBC’s Today Show) and hit markets near (Erie and Harrisburg, PA) and far (Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Palm Beach and Seattle, to name a few). When the final stats were calculated the ad equivalency rate reached nearly $3 million and the PR value was topped the $8.5 million mark. Oh, and did we mention the Steelers won the Super Bowl!