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It’s very nice: craft brewer ParrotDog mixes up a strange brew
Craft brewers have a penchant for experimentation and, judging by the growth of the sector, that seems to be working out pretty well for a few of them. But Wellington-based ParrotDog is one of the few to have applied that philosophy to the audio-visual realm and it has once again gone loco in its newest ad.
The brewery started off when Matt Kristofski and Matt Warner concocted a brew in the bathroom of their Aro Valley flat. The brewery got its name because there was a parrot, Schmee, living in the flat at the time and the pair called each other dog (according to Stuff, it was supposed to be a temporary name but it stuck).
The brewery released its first commercial beer in 2011 (after the addition of Matt Stevens), and the three Matts then launched their first weird ad last year called ‘Slide’, which was also made by Matt’s brother Sam Kristofski through Pharm Philm and was “a bit of fun” that’s characteristic of the brand and the guys behind it: laconic and more than a bit random.
Leigh Hart’s Wakachangi Lager also seemed to take a leaf out of Borat’s book with its tagline ‘Quite nice beer‘. And it seems to be working, as ParrotDog told Idealog in 2012 that it regularly gets requests (or demands) for more of their product from around the country.
“They hold that advertising and marketing hasn’t been hugely important, as the demand heavily outpaces the supply, but in another seemingly unplanned stroke of luck, a fourth Matt (more of a shadow player) created the ParrotDog logo from London. The graphic is both visually striking and memorable.”
The brewery now produces 2,400 litres of beer a week from its Vivian St brewery. And, as well as bottling, it’s also shipping kegs to Australia. BitterBitch, its first and most popular commercial brew, won the People’s Choice Awards at last year’s Beervana festival.
