How this beer brand treated drinkers to an AR guitar lesson
Zulu Kilo Alpha won the ’Most Effective Use of Creativity’ category at The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising 2022 for its work with Single Cut Beersmiths to create a beer that teaches you to play guitar. Here, we find out more about what went into this successful project.
Notes IPA from SingleCut is the first beer that can help drinkers learn to play the guitar.
Notes IPA from SingleCut is the first beer that can help drinkers learn to play the guitar. Its four-pack features cans with four distinct labels, each displaying a foundational guitar chord: C, D, G or E-minor. By gripping the can like you would a guitar, you can learn the finger positions for each chord and get a feel for the strings through the label’s tactile finish.
The brief
Single Cut Beersmiths is a New York-based brewery that is inspired by rock music. Every craft beer in its product line pays homage to genre. Zulu Kilo Alpha’s brief was to develop a launch campaign for a new beer that celebrated these roots with an idea that would truly bring the brand to life, capture the imagination of customers through music and drive brand awareness and sales.
The idea
Lots of people think they’re guitarists after a few beers, so Zulu Kilo Alpha wondered if the drink could be used to help people improve their skills.
It developed Notes IPA, the first beer crafted to actually teach drinkers the guitar. Each beer can in a four-pack came with a distinct label displaying a foundational guitar chord: C, D, G or E-minor. By gripping the can like they would a guitar, drinkers can learn the finger positions for each chord and get a feel for the strings via the label’s tactile finish.
This was accompanied by an interactive demonstration accessed by scanning a Snapchat code on the can with a mobile device. This unlocked an augmented reality (AR) guitar lesson that enabled drinkers to visualize finger positions for each chord right on the can, hear how the chords should sound and create shareable music. Every can came equipped with an injection-moulded guitar pick that fitted right on the pull tab. These custom picks were designed to not only pop open the beer but also pop off to use to practice guitar.
Finally, custom shipping tubes were designed in the image of a guitar neck. Each tube came with the beer, pull tab picks and a limited-edition campaign poster. These tubes were sent to some of the greatest guitar players in the US and Canada, along with a handwritten thank you note from SingleCut’s founder Rich Buceta for their contributions to rock music.
The results
Notes IPA sold out twice as fast as an average SingleCut release. It was also the brand’s most successful social media initiative, with engagement rates on Snapchat for the AR lens performing 500% above average. The cost per swipe was $1 lower than the benchmark ($0.48 v $1.50) and average time spent was more than double the benchmark (7.8 seconds v 3 seconds).