Zywiec by Heineken

Seriously Good Beer

This is a fun story. Wait, maybe it's a funny story. Read on and let me know.

We were nearing the end of an odd, but successful shoot for WWE (yup, wrestling). By odd, I mean walking a famous wrestler named Mankind (a tie-wearing, leather-masked anti-hero—look it up), around NYC while shouting his name through a megaphone. It was all a 'shoot and release later' type of thing—not sure people do that anymore, but we did.

​

Anyway, I said, sure, but what brand? He said Heineken, or really a very large Polish brand under Heineken named Zywiec or Zywiec. None of us were really sure at the time, but it sounded like fun, gosh darnit, I really like creative fun. Of course, they didn't have a bunch of production cash, as it was a test to see if Americans would embrace a Polish beer.

​

I gathered a small team of friends, and in a few hours, we came up with this simple, smart, creative platform concept. We weren't going to walk away from stereotypes. We were going to own them, hook, line and pint. This 2-commercial campaign caught such traction that they removed it from the air. What? About eight months later, the Heineken masterbrand released the same campaign with a horse walking into a bar, etc., etc. 

​

If this were t-ball, we not only placed the ball on the tee, but we actually hit out of the park for the other team. Eh, oh well. Still had fun. And who doesn't love polka?