RAINIER: A BEER ODYSSEY
The sprawling, epic story of one indomitable beer brand’s legendary advertising campaign is inextricably linked tothe sprawling, epic story of the city from which it hails. In the heart of Seattle, the shadow of Mount Rainier, and it’s namesake, Rainier Beer, loom large. First brewed in Seattle in 1878, before Washington was even a state, Rainier stands as one of the most successful regional beer brands in the nation. Through the decades, their marketing strategies closely paralleled what was going on in the greater beer universe. Predictable campaigns which lived up to shifting American norms. That all changed in 1974. Gordon Bowker, one of the three original founders of Starbucks, teamed up with Terry Heckler, the budding brand and marketing wizard, to create Heckler/Bowker, a small boutique ad agency. Rainier Beer, experiencing an early 70s brand imaging crisis, decided to take a chance on the young upstarts and commissioned them to craft a new campaign with an emphasis on television. It paid off. Thanks to the new approach by Heckler/Bowker, Rainier quickly became the best selling beer in the state, surpassing even national giants like Miller and Budweiser. The new TV ads, cutting edge in their simplicity and contrarian attitude to accepted advertising practices, immediately captured the imaginations of the entire region. They were quirky, zany, yet dry and underplayed. They mocked themselves. They pulled the curtain back to reveal their own stagecraft. No one who witnessed these groundbreaking ads during their original 12 year run has ever forgotten them. "Rainier: A Beer Odyssey" attempts to cement a new genre, that of pure advertising as art, the found footage film as spectacle, the educational case-study as comedy, and the transformation of brand itself into narrative. It is also the story of a forgotten industry; of a time when Seattle was not only a viable, but a thriving film production destination. For the very first time, the technicians, artists, writers, and craftspeople tell the true story of the most legendary ad campaign in the state of Washington.documentaryPT2H4MNR2025-03-07Isaac Olsen
RAINIER: A BEER ODYSSEY"RAINIER: A BEER ODYSSEY"Showtimes
March 7, 7:30 pm
March 8, 4:30 pm
March 9, 6:30 pm
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