OLDE ENGLISH MALT LIQUOR
Haters Fuels Greatness. Greatness Builds Kings.
Campaign that re-invents the Olde English (OE) 40oz and re-introduces the GLASS 40oz bottle (many 40oz malt liquor beverages transitioned to plastic in the mid 2010’s). Many people talk shit about OE’s subjectively bad taste, yet its malt liquor recipe is a 5x Gold Medalist at the Great American Beer Festival, the most respected and renowned beer festival in the US. Similar to OE, LeBron James is one of the most hated basketball players in the NBA despite being one of the greatest players to play the game with a laundry list of awards, accomplishments, gold medals, and championships. The parallels are too strong not to explore this partnership…
Manifesto:
“After a hard day’s work, it’s not about the taste. Or the flashy packaging. Or the bold, boundary pushing flavors. It’s about getting the job done. It’s about History. Legacy. Greatness. Passed down from generation to generation. From your father’s father’s father right on down to you. Don’t let someone else tell YOUR story. Block out the white noise. Ignore the break room whisperers and the water fountain trash talkers, the keyboard warriors and angry meme makers. Remember these words: Haters fuel Greatness. Greatness builds Kings.”
Print Ads:
Video:
Video 1: Lebron “Greatness Builds Kings” Manifesto Video
Script: (Lebron narrates): “After a hard day’s work, it’s not about the taste. Or the flashy packaging. Or the bold, boundary pushing flavors. It’s about getting the job done. It’s about History. Legacy. Greatness. Passed down from generation to generation. From your father’s father’s father right on down to you. Don’t let someone else tell YOUR story. Block out the white noise. Ignore the break room whisperers and the water fountain trash talkers, the keyboard warriors and angry meme makers. Remember these words: Haters fuel Greatness. Greatness builds Kings.”
Visual: Lebron walking off the court toward the tunnel after a game, towel over head, crowd booing, yelling, no audio other than Lebron narrating the script (his voice is doing the talking in the form of a narrator, he’s not visually shown talking). Hate Tweets, digital and newspaper headlines, and thumbnail clips of talking heads pop up all over the screen as Lebron walks into tunnel and disappears into blackness. Re-appears in gym lifting weights, sweating, pushing himself to the max. Lebron stops lifting weights, gets up and walks toward cooler with ice. He looks at the camera, taking over the narration by finishing out the last sentence of the script “Remember these words: Haters Fuel Greatness. Greatness builds Kings.” Pulls 40 out of cooler. Opens and takes a swing. Bad reviews of OE pop up on the screen and disappear. Star Wars style text appears at the bottom of the screen listing gold medals and awards won by Olde English and Lebron.
“Olde English: 5x Great American Beer Festival Gold Medalist: Malt Liquor (1991, 1992, 1994, 1995); American Style Specialty Lager (1997)
Lebron James: 4× NBA champion (2012, 2013, 2016, 2020), 4× NBA Finals MVP (2012, 2013, 2016, 2020), 4× NBA Most Valuable Player (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013), 17× NBA All-Star (2005–2021), 3× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2006, 2008, 2018), 13× All-NBA First Team (2006, 2008–2018, 2020), 3× All-NBA Second Team (2005, 2007, 2021), 5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2009–2013), NBA Rookie of the Year (2004), NBA All-Rookie First Team (2004), NBA scoring champion (2008), NBA assists leader (2020), 4× AP Athlete of the Year (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020), 3× Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year (2012, 2016, 2020), Time Athlete of the Year (2020), USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (2012), 2× National high school player of the year (2002, 2003), 2× First-team Parade All-American (2002, 2003), 3× Ohio Mr. Basketball (2001–2003)”
Eminem’s “Without You” starts playing as Star Wars text begins. “na na na nana, na na na naaa… guess who’s back, back back back backkkkkk”. “Glass is Back” flashes on screen. Commercial ends.
Video 2: “Kings Don’t Drink out of Plastic”
Group of friends walk into a store and approach the beer cooler. Man in front of group opens cooler and dissapointingly exclaims, “ugh, plast-”. The man stops mid “plastic” as the group sees a glow emanating from the back of the cooler, behind the row of plastic 40’s. The group collectively goes “woahhhh…” as their eyes widen and mouths drop open. Quickly, one by one, the man pulls out the plastic 40’s at the front searching for the origin of the glow. Each plastic, non glowing 40 is thrown to the ground, bouncing on the floor. After 4 bottles, the GLASS Olde English 40 appears glowing with a crown reminiscent of the Olde English logo floating over its top. As soon as the 40 appears, Outkast’s “The Way You Move” starts (“boom, boom boom…”).
The man extends his arm and as soon as he touches the glass bottle, he is immediately transported to medieval times with a satin robe, crown on, and 40 in his hands. The song continues to the chorus “I like the way you move…” A party is stirring around him in a lavish ballroom filled with party goers dancing with 40’s in their hand. The camera shows the man’s shocked face as he’s visibly unsure of where he is while also joining in the dancing. Camera hard pans to the far end of the room and zooms in on LeBron James sitting at the end of the ballroom in the throne, bobbing his head and tapping his foot, wearing a crown and red robe. Lebron speaks, “Kings Don’t Drink out of Plastic” as he takes a swig of the 40 in his hand. “Glass is Back” text appears at the bottom of the screen followed by “please recycle” with a visible recycling bin full of empty 40’s. Eminem’s “Without Me” briefly plays from “Glass is Back” appearing til end of commercial. (“na na na nana, na na na naaa…”).
A little history lesson: In 2014 MillerCoors moved their 32 and 40 oz glass bottles to plastic. Despite MillerCoors’ best intentions (official reasoning below), drinking cheap malt liquor out of plastic made the experience feel even cheaper. It was degrading to the existence of the 40. Drinking a big, heavy glass bottle made you feel like a king. The move to plastic gave more reason to avoid the only beer you could buy that didn’t come in a bottle or at least a can. Beer doesn’t taste as good in plastic. Neither does soda (imho). The reasoning explained in press releases is below:
Shatter-proof bottle avoids costly and dangerous breakage
20%-30% carbon footprint reduction, better for the environment.
More masculine, ergonomic design.
40-oz. plastic bottles weigh 1 pound less that glass 40-oz. bottles
Innovation and news in the economy segment.
More Ideas….
6-Pack of 12oz bottles shaped like the iconic 40oz bottle’s shape.
Greatness Transcends the Starting 5.
Greatness makes History Books. Teamwork wins Championships.
In honor of the 6th Man: Lou Williams, Manu Genobli, Robert Horry
Clips of these 3 in big moments of their careers, winning championships, making big plays, hitting game winners. Clips of them being hugged by the superstar of the team (Kawhi / Paul George, Tim Duncan, Kobe/Shaq).
Narrator ”Greatness is not achieved alone. Historic moments are meant to be shared.” Sixth Man: “Even by the 6th man.” Grabs last 12 oz. bottle from the 6-pack. Chugs it.