Reimagining Yuengling’s Promise,
One Beer at a Time
From America’s Oldest to America’s Boldest
Yuengling
With almost 200 years in the beer industry, D.G. Yuengling & Son had already established itself as America’s Oldest Brewery. But as it entered its sixth generation of family ownership, the need arose to shift the brand away from its historical perspective and generate excitement for its future.
The Big Idea
Yuengling drinkers, both young and old, share common values that drive them to make bold moves. To leverage this commonality, and to compete in an increasingly competitive landscape saturated with new craft beers and seltzers, we transformed Yuengling from America’s Oldest Brewery into America’s Boldest Brewery. Our “Spread Your Wings” campaign celebrated the almost familial connection between brand and drinker, while our “Make Your Day Golden” campaign launched Golden Pilsner and the Yuengling brand into the refreshment segment. Still, there was more to come.
Taking it further with FLIGHT by Yuengling.
For its next bold move, Yuengling set its sights on the “Better for You” target. Flanked by various players that promised low carbs and low calories, FLIGHT by Yuengling brings the brand’s trademark authenticity to the light beer landscape, while offering those health-centric doers an opportunity to raise the bar when reaching for upscale light refreshment.
Why It Worked
Since launching the “Spread Your Wings” campaign, Yuengling has seen a directional increase in unaided awareness among the target audience for Traditional Lager. Preference for Yuengling also increased following the campaign launch, while the majority of the beer category remained flat. Meanwhile, Golden Pilsner quickly became the fastest-growing product in Yuengling’s portfolio, outpacing the brewery’s sales expectations and expediting a full-footprint rollout despite its infancy.
As for FLIGHT by Yuengling, despite challenging market conditions, the product has shown encouraging signals of early adoption by outpacing brewery projections following its launch in Spring 2020.
Related work.
Milwaukee Bucks
After helping the Bucks build momentum for years, the 2018/19 season was set to be a big one. With a new, world-class stadium, a new coach, returning superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and postseason appearances in three of the last four seasons, the only thing left to do was rally the fans with a new campaign. And, of course, do it without a single shoot.
Yuengling
D.G. Yuengling & Son has been brewing beer since 1829. That’s nearly 200 years of beer expertise packed into one family business. So when Yuengling’s newest generation approached us with a brand new pilsner, it already wasn’t just any beer; it was a beer six generations in the making.