Shiner Bock Sneaks one by Heineken...
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 02:27PM 
Are you looking to create a unique guerrilla marketing campaign to promote a beverage? Are you looking for ways to drive awareness at an event where a competitor has exclusivity to distribution rights?
In 2008, marketing personnel from the Spoetzl Brewery found themselves in a David vs. Goliath battle as they searched for ways to make an impact at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival. For years, the brewery had used the three-day festival (attracting 65K persons per day) as a platform to promote and drive affinity for their Shiner Bock beer. But to their disfortune, Heineken paid an undisclosed amount of money in 2008 to become the festival's official beer sponsor, gaining exclusive distribution rights.
As a result, the brewery's representatives turned to their agency, McGarrah Jessee, to create a captivating guerrilla marketing campaign to steal the show.
The result? McGarrah Jessee created and distributed 10,000 beer koozies that exactly resembled the Shiner beer cans. The koozies were distributed to concertgoers en route to the festival, where only Heineken was sold inside. When consumers at the Austin City Limits Music Festival put the koozies around the Heineken beers they purchased at the festival, it appeared that people were drinking Shiner Bock - not Heineken.
The guerrilla marketing strategy serves as a perfect example for ways that brand with smaller marketing budgets and activation dollars can overcome their large competitors. Check out the Shiner guerrilla branding tactic below:
