For Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, Oktoberfest is the biggest activation of the year, an opportunity for the traditional pretzel brand to engage a younger generation of beer drinkers (25-44 years old). So, when the pandemic canceled Oktoberfest for the second year in a row, Snyder’s needed a way to activate the brand from home, all month long — all with a budget of only $600,000.

To help fans Oktoberfest from home, Snyder’s took the only two things needed to celebrate — pretzels and beer — and put them both in one can: Snyderbier, the only beer brewed with Snyder’s pretzels, the “Unofficial Snack of Oktoberfest.” However, to cut through a category as competitive as beer, every element — from pretzel to pour to materials out in the world — had to be designed from scratch, inside and out.

Snyder’s started by designing the beer itself. We partnered with renowned brewery Captain Lawrence to create a specialty run of two beers: Pretzel Märzen, a traditional Oktoberfest lager, and Pretzel Frücht, a sweet and salty gose-style mashup unlike any other Oktoberfest brew. However, we knew everything also had to look as good as it tasted.

Next, we designed the Snyderbier system to feel inspired by tradition but refreshed for a new generation of Oktoberfest fans. Pulling from classic Oktoberfest fare, like the Bavarian crest, we gave each element a modern twist, featuring custom lettering and custom illustrations that were anything but customary.

Finally, we took our new, refreshed Oktoberfest look and blew it out into an entire design system, including cans, coasters, stickers, posters, glasses — everything you need to Oktoberfest from home, all month long.

The overall goal was for Snyder’s, a traditional pretzel brand, to appeal to a younger generation and bring excitement to the brand by amplifying the existing desire to pair pretzels with beer.

In the end, Snyderbier was Snyder’s best performing activation to date, earning 1.9 billion total impressions, including 301 total placements, 154 broadcast hits and 86 featured stories online. The Snyderbier earned media headlines across multiple publications, most notably USA Today, The Food Network, Rachael Ray, Food & Wine and Ad Age.

We exceeded every single projected KPI, doubling our total impressions and nearly tripling our projected media pickups by national food and lifestyle stories.

The Snyderbier flew off the shelves online and in-store, shipping all 8,000 cans of beer nationwide. We had 18 markets completely sell out, and Snyderbier even became the best-selling beer ever for our distributor, halftime.com.