Vancouver Island Brewing
Vancouver Island Brewing Pod Pack
The orca is an iconic mammal of Vancouver Island. But since 1995, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) had declined by over 20%, totally only 73 orcas—a 30-year low. So, Vancouver Island Brewing did something about it.
To improve perceptions of the brand and further establish them as “the” brewery of the island, the Pod Pack was created. Proceeds from this 4-pack of special edition beers supported The Pacific Salmon Foundation to help preserve the orca population.
The Pod Pack was a coastal collaboration with four other local island breweries, making it a true representation of Vancouver Island. Each of the beers was named after a different whale in the pod and designed to mimic that specific orca’s unique eye and saddle patches. The box even had a dorsal fin that popped up as a handle.
To launch the beers and further raise awareness for the SRKW, we brought their statistics to life. A physical graph showed the drastic decline of the orca population, represented by sinking dorsal fins on the street.
With no advertising budget or media spend, the Pod Pack garnered 6 million earned media impressions—making up 60% of Vancouver Island Brewing’s total earned impressions for the entire year.Best of all, the Pod Pack sold out in half the projected time and raised $15k to help preserve the wild BC salmon stocks, a vital food source for the SRKW.
