In an era of multi-million dollar CGI-laden and Pitbull-infused beer commercials, Old Milwaukee’s no-budget “Hey, Pass Me A Beer” online advertising campaign is a breath of fresh air. The brainchild of Red Letter Media‘s Jack Packard, his brother Nick Packard, and longtime Milwaukee improviser Tim Higgins features the latter two passing each other cans of Old Milwaukee in a series of inventive, elaborate, and oft-hilarious ways.
Combined, the campy ad campaign has garnered close to three million views on YouTube, was featured on Funny Or Die, and has become a strange point of pride for Milwaukeeans. True to their local roots, Higgins and the Packard Brothers revived the series in celebration of summer in Wisconsin.
The latest installment features the world’s premier pilsner passers sharing Old Milwaukee with a T-shirt gun, by skipping cans across an above ground pool, through transporting them in wheel barrows, and shooting them down with a crossbow. Just in time for Independence Day, the video also makes good use of roman candles.
“We wanted to do a Fourth Of July one because I feel like there’s not enough fireworks and alcohol mixed together, so that’s really important to me,” Jack Packard tells Milwaukee Record.
Don’t try these tricks at home, viewer. These guys are professionals.