Rickards

"Always on social"

Since its launch, Rickard's has introduced craft beer to Canadians, and over the years, the brand has helped people navigate their way through the world of flavourful beers. This year, the challenge was to find a fresh way to do this. The brand introduced drinkers to some of the finer nuances of beer, creating the "Rules of the Round" and "Valenpint's Day" as a fresh take on beer etiquette and beer occasions.

Rather than speaking exclusively to product knowledge, the brand decided to explore pub etiquette. "Rules of the Round" is a social media campaign that instructs drinkers to navigate different situations they find themselves in. The series began in January with "Fancy Pants," which explored how friends should behave when one of them orders a fancy drink. "The First Rounder" helped answer the age-old question of how to decide who gets the first round. "The Late Joiner" showed what happens when the gang has been at the bar for a while and others join late, making tab calculation a bit tricky.

In May, a second wave was released. "Social Networking" reminded people that beer was the original social interaction. "The Casanova" detailed who gets the round when one of the boys meets a girl and is suddenly AWOL. Lastly, "Pints with the Boss" answers the delicate question of who picks up the tab when you're drinking with the boss. Facebook posts supported the entire campaign.

In addition, the brand decided to invent its own day, "Valenpint's," which took place for the first time on February 13. The agency spread the word on social media, and released a series of Valenpint's e-cards, with lines like "Rickard's is Red, violets are blue, gather our friends, its time for a brew."

The six videos have so far generated almost 750,000 views online, more than seven million impressions and lots of social chatter.