Familiar Creatures creates retro 80’s jingle for craft beer drinking dads

Devils Backbone Brewing Company partnered with Familiar Creatures for the second year in a row to launch their new paid social media campaign. To speak directly to the brewer’s millennial dad target, the ad agency created videos with a nostalgic jingle sung over-romanticised, tongue-in-cheek visuals. The retro approach is intended to stand out in the social media space, where brands often strive to be trendy, hip and relevant.

Working with the music composition company Overcoast, Familiar Creatures wrote a feel-good jingle that encourages drinkers to slow down and savour a moment with their beer. Overcoast then commissioned a musician who’s sung jingles for Folgers, Gillette and Big Red Gum, popular staples of 80’s advertising.

“Devils Backbone makes complex, yet approachable craft beers and brews that are made to be sipped. We wanted to capture this feeling of taking a moment with your drink, almost treating it like a buddy,” said Justin Bajan, co-founder of Familiar Creatures. “This kind of feeling hearkens back to simpler days so we thought a heartfelt, yet cheeky jingle was the way to go. Overcoast crushed it like always.”

The films were shot by local photographer and Director Brian Camp, who scouted various scenic areas in Virginia to showcase the actors and the beers.

“Even though these will live on Instagram and Facebook, the jingle itself really feels like a classic from an era of advertising before social media. As soon as we heard it we started humming all around the brewery. We showed it to our wholesalers and they couldn’t stop humming it either,” remarked Marisa Black, Director of Marketing at Devils Backbone.