Pilsner Urquell

SABMiller came to us with a problem—they couldn’t export Pilsner Urquell over long distances because the beer skunked (PU is not as highly pasteurized as most big global beer brands—that’s why it tastes so good). Our solution was to switch from green glass to brown (which protects the beer from sunlight) and rely more on cans. This concerned them because they felt they had to ape Heineken. And they didn’t like the idea of cans because they thought cans would make the brand feel cheap. We told them they needed to get over their Heineken complex and think more like an American Craft Beer…because PU is, in fact, the original Craft Beer!  We then dug deep into their archives and did a total brand refresh. Needless to say, Pilsner Urquell became insanely successful with sales rising more than 20%.