Coney Island (Shmaltz Brewing Company) Creative Brief

Our target will be 25-35 year old beer drinkers, who are traditionally predominantly male. In the craft beer industry, there are some titans such as Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams (which can barely be considered “craft” anymore) that can be found in just about any liquor store. However, there are almost 2,500 official craft breweries spread throughout the country, some of which have begun to distribute outside of their immediate area. As a result, it is important to create a unique personality to be associated with a brewery’s products. Coney Island (the place) is known for its concentration of amusement parks and their famous association with sideshow “freaks.” Right now, Coney Island Brewing Company is making use of that connotation to brand their beers as “freaks’ favorites.” However, much of their current imagery makes use of stereotypical carnival sideshow freaks, with limited advertising material to speak of. We are looking to expand their definition of “freaks” to more actively include “beer freaks.”

The idea behind our ad is that Coney Island Craft Lagers leave an indelible mark upon the palates (but more specifically the tongues) of those that consume it. In much the same way that a farmer brands his cattle, our beer will stake a claim to consumer’s tongues that no other brand will be able to erase. However, in true freak form, the people who drink our beer willingly submit themselves to be branded, and in fact choose to brand their tongues for reasons that the uninitiated will simply not understand.

This idea is supported by the fact that all of Coney Island’s offerings rate in between the 80s and 90s on the site Beeradvocate.com, which constitutes good to exceptional-grade beer. In many areas outside of New York, the beer is only available seasonally in a 12 pack that retails around $20, which is considered pricy for beer and will most likely scare away customers who would rather gravitate towards cheaper, inferior offerings. As a result, the people who opt for Coney Island will do so because they are already immersed in craft beer culture and have a genuine appreciation for what makes an exceptional beer, aka a “beer freak,” which would make them all the more likely to allow their taste buds to be (figuratively) branded by the product.

The copy refers to a need for a better branding strategy, to which the company seems to have found an abnormal solution. The tone of our ad hints at the consumer’s decision to be branded through a visual prominently (and proudly) displaying his tongue that was had the Coney Island logo burned into it. Branding with a hot iron is normally a painful process, but this person submitted to it and is wearing the logo as a badge of honor.