Someoddpilot: Three Floyds Brewing brings its not normal characters to (bizarre) life for its 30th

There are 9,578 operating craft breweries in the US, according to the Brewers Association. That’s a lot of competition. Three Floyds Brewing and agency, Someoddpilot, have built the platform, It’s Not Normal, to give the brand a distinctive personality that cuts through the clutter visibility. On its 30-year anniversary, Someoddpilot, has expanded that platform to launch 30 Years of Not Normal, while putting a distinctly local spin on the brewery’s anniversary.

At the heart of the campaign by agency, Someoddpilot, is the brand’s home state, Chicago. The OOH, social, and digital work brings the brewery’s irreverent world to life by placing its famous characters, Zombie Dust and Gumballhead, into everyday Chicago environments. In OOH, Zombie Dust and Gumballhead are seen engaging in everyday activities like grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, hanging out in the garage, and bowling – ordinary Midwestern activities made decidedly not normal by the presence of two giant beer mascots.

Beyond the OOH, Someoddpilot has also created a series of video assets to expand and improve on the gag. Zombie Dust is a green, Frankenstein-esque character who wears armour, a gold crown, and a red cape. Gumballhead is a wide-eyed, cartoonish cat character with yellow fur, a large head, sunglasses, and a cigarette in its mouth. And instead of using CGI or AI, the brand and Someoddpilot went 180 degrees in the opposite direction – tapping Margaret Rolicki, the primary artist and fabricator within the GWAR art collective, Slave Pit Inc., to give the campaign’s already-unusual characters an appropriately unconventional physical form. Two Someoddpilot employees even stepped inside the mascot suits for the shoot – truly embracing the DIY origins of craft beer and metal music. The soundtrack comes from thrash metal band Municipal Waste, extending Three Floyds’ longstanding connection to metal culture.

“The Three Floyds brand has been so successful because they’ve always known what they are,” stated Annika Welander, CEO of Someoddpilot. “For this new campaign, we leaned all the way into that heritage, borrowing aspects of metal music culture and bringing them to the everyday, mundane places where people actually drink this beer. It was a lot of fun.”

“Three Floyds has never had a problem being different. We’ve spent 30 years building this world of amazing beers, characters, art, and ideas. The challenge was tying it all together without cleaning it up or losing what people love about it. Someoddpilot got that right away. They helped us make the brand feel more consistent, without making it feel any less like Three Floyds,” added Cory Just, marketing director, Three Floyds.

Credits:
Agency: Someoddpilot
CEO: Annika Welander
Partner, Account Director: Justin Hoot
Partner, Creative: Anton Jeludkov
Partner, Strategy: Patrick Collins
Associate Director, Client Services: Ellen Evangelides
Senior Copywriter: Emma Pool
Lead Video Editor: Ellie Hall
Senior Designer: Wendy Robles
Designer: Jackie Bonilla