It's a good idea for craft breweries to have a soft drink or two in the product mix. Soda is easy to produce, it broadens the product offering and develops a brand preference among under age consumers. Great River Brewery knew they needed a soft drink product, root beer seemed good, they just didn't know what to call it.
I knew Chad Pregracke and he seemed like a natural role model for the root beer. The toughest part of this project was bringing two amicable parties together. Chad was on his barge running a clean up four states away and the brewery management somehow fell under the impression Chad was going to become a spokesman for the brewery.
I drew a stylized (and romantisized) illustration of what Chad would have looked like in the early days and mocked up a package. Then I started convincing both sides of the opportunity and the details. Both sides benefited nicely in the end: the brewery got a distinctively positioned product, Living Lands & Waters got a financial and public relations shot in the arm.
What Chad really looked like when he got tired waiting for the government to clean up the river and started doing it himself. Great picture, would have made a lousy package.
The package also achieved some national notoriety