DNA Helps Rainier Seltzer Join Hard Seltzer Race: Agency Brief
Rainier beer has announced the launch of its new hard seltzers in a hilarious new campaign that shows a parody scientist Ron Yaier with the “Rainier Center for Discovery” finally discovering the new “species” swimming in the Pacific Northwest. There are three flavors of the hard seltzer—lemon, huckleberry and apple—with one can containing just 90 calories and being gluten-free.
The campaign was created by independent agency DNA and produced by its in-house production company Petting Zoo.
“Our recent work that brings back the iconic Wild Rainiers was so well received by the brand’s fans, that we saw an opportunity to build a new world of discovery with Rainier Seltzer,” a spokesman from DNA said in a statement. “We took a mockumentary approach to revealing these new members of the Rainier brand which we envisioned as water creatures, another aspect of the PNW that is important to our consumer.”
The Rainier Seltzer brand will be supported by paid social media advertising across Instagram and Facebook with a series of films that detail the stories of the new Rainier Seltzer varieties. The films contain a variety of hidden Easter eggs (the name Ron Yaier is a take on the name ‘Rainier’ for one).
“This is a great time for Rainier to introduce a Hard Seltzer line and expand our brand to meet growing consumer tastes for light-flavored libations,” a spokesman from Rainier said in a statement. “This new campaign captures the spirit of our brand in a way that will engage our consumers and encourage them to discover and share our new offering.”
This is the latest example of a company looking to get into the hard seltzer business. Just this year, companies like Coca-Cola, Miller Genuine Draft and Anheuser-Busch InBev released their own hard seltzer brands.
“A year ago, category leader White Claw had six competitors,” Ad Age’s E.J Schultz wrote in an April article. “Now it has more than 170 brands nipping at its heels, it says, with new hard seltzers hitting the market on a weekly basis.”
