Kokanee is a Western Canadian beer with an ongoing narrative that has been a part of the brand for over 25 years. This narrative revolves around a Kokanee beer-stealing Sasquatch and has often been used to engage consumers.

Coming into 2012, the brand faced a number of challenges. Health was being eroded by much larger global and national brands with significantly larger advertising spends, while share was being captured by the value segment and hyper-local brands that benefit from deep discount offerings. Kokanee needed a big idea to:

1) Stop the erosion of Kokanee’s brand health

2) Drive increased consumer engagement with the brand

3) Deliver market presence that exceeds its paid SOV

4) Stop Kokanee’s share decline

The answer was to do something that had never been done by any brand: a full-length film. All market efforts were put towards a 90-minute movie that would bring Kokanee’s narrative to life using the brand’s cast of characters.

In May of 2012, the movie was announced. Titled The Movie Out Here, it played off the brand’s tagline, “It’s The Beer Out Here”. Consumers were encouraged to help “make” the movie by auditioning for roles, submitting props, entering a song to be on the soundtrack, or voting for their favourite bar to be in the movie. They could even get their name in the closing credits.

In September 2012, after the movie was shot, Kokanee held a contest giving consumers the opportunity to have a sneak peek at exclusive premieres across Western Canada. They could also scan limited-edition movie cans to see exclusive movie footage and trailers.

The Movie Out Here premiered in November 2012 at the Whistler Film Festival and was released in cinemas across Western Canada on March 1, 2013. Post wide release ancillary distribution allowed for further exposure to the film and revenue generation that worked to offset the production costs.

The campaign surpassed all targets. Brand health scores were above target by 21%, and share beat plan by 6%. Fan acquisition and fan engagement metrics surpassed all expectations by 152% and 3,163%, respectively.

This campaign proved to be effective as we set out to create something that had never been done before and help shape the way advertisers think about branded content and program integration. As Cannes Lion 2013 Branded Content jury member Jimmy Smith put it, “the project’s integration across channels was legendary”.