Holding 1,844 Beers PBR Has Once Again Created The World Largest Package Of Beer.

Over the last few summers, the irreverent team at PBR has perfected the art of capturing the public’s attention. They haven’t done it with expensive advertising campaigns or celebrity endorsements; instead, they have given the people what they want, more beer. From the moment they released their 99-pack in 2019, the idea of going bigger has seemed to become infused into Pabst’s summer schedule. Last year they swung for the fences and dropped five Independence Day-themed 1776-packs to selected partners that they claimed was the biggest beer package ever.

Seeing the support their gigantic box-o-beer garnered, they decided to amp things up this year. In a big way. By dropping their latest beast, an 1844-pack, on the general market. Yes, you read that correctly. The chances are good that someone will post pictures of themselves with a package holding over 76 cases of beer.

“The basic genesis for this idea came from all the attention our 1776-pack created last year that helped us create a lot of buzz around PBR,” says Nick Reely, the VP of marketing at PBR. “We thought, how could we go even bigger and tie it into a brand as iconic as ours? So, we created one based on the year we were founded, 1844, and expanded the program.”

The success of the 1776-pack in grabbing the headlines was apparent. According to Pabst, there were over 90 separate articles about it, and they were able to track over 900 million unique visitors online to various sites about their stunt. That generated over 9 million in free advertising revenue, according to Reely. But, while all those numbers were great, there was one problem, the package was not actually out in the trade where their consumers could enjoy it.

Numerous inquiries from their distributor partners and drinkers flowed in with one basic request. They actually wanted to experience the world’s largest beer package. So, they decided to expand the program by creating 250 actual 1844 packs and attaching a #1844 sweepstakes to it. For the entire month of July, people can enter online via a QR code to win 1,844 dollars per day, plus once in July and August, they will also give away 1,844 gallons of gas. Their programing heralds that it’s designed to offer some relief to people who are feeling inflation’s effects.

By bringing an actual package into the market, PBR hopes to create a much larger noise around their beer and drive sales, the ultimate goal for any brand. Standing four feet tall by three and a half feet wide, the thick corrugated cardboard package arrives at an account empty, and it is up to them to fill it as they see fit. They are dropping it in various locations, from large retail chains to popular PBR bars, to smaller independent liquor stores. The only requirement is that each one is used to drive brand awareness and have fun with it.

“The idea is that the 1844-pack creates an event wherever it’s located. We want people to stop and shoot photos of it and tell their friends about it. Hopefully, it stops people in their tracks and gets them to grab our beer,” says Lee Dixon, the director of national accounts with PBR. “We wanted to do this around the 4^th of July, the biggest beer holiday of the year, because who wouldn’t want to show up with a picture of an 1884 pack to a party?”

Dixon and his team are hoping that by going big this summer again, they will be able to drive the lift on their beer in retail, especially from the displays they plan to execute around their latest record holder. Time will only tell if this program works, but if it does, you have to wonder how much larger they will go? Maybe a 1920-pack next year to celebrate the end of prohibition?