You have likely seen them and laughed.
Squamish’s Backcountry Brewing has been releasing some hilariously entertaining promotional videos.
@backcountrybrewing 🎥🎬🎠The Best-Of Video 2021! #craftbeer #squamish #sourbeer #waynesworld #anchorman #bertkreischer #spinaltap #napoleondynamite #dollyparton ♬ original sound - ben
Remember Forrest Gump’s run in which he ran for such a long distance that he grew a beard in the 1990s classic? Or would you like to hear a motivational speaker named Matt Foley, reminiscent of Saturday Night Live's Chris Farley, pump you up as you’re climbing the Stawamus Chief?
If you do, you may want to head over to your social media channels and check out some of Backcountry's content. It will certainly give you a chuckle.
@backcountrybrewing Run Forest Run! #lightlager #loggersports #squamish #craftbeer #beerus #axe #beergarden #forestgump #foresdtgumpedit #forestgumpchallenge #forestgumpmovie ♬ original sound - ben
While some companies are having to hire professionals to create videos of this calibre, fortunately for Backcountry, there was no need to look beyond their own team of employees to make their marketing material.
“I started off in business school,” said Ben Reeder, one of the owners of Backcountry. “I have had multiple different businesses, but I've always worked in film as well. And had a production company for a while for 18 years in Vancouver.”
With a sound knowledge of film and television production, Reeder and the team were able to produce their own promotional footage, giving them more creative control over what they were producing for the company.
“That was kind of one of our strategies, just basically taking advantage of the fact that I have this experience,” Reeder said. “I have all the gear like, you know, lights, cameras and all the stuff.”
Pop culture on point
With everything they need in terms of equipment, Backcountry has plenty of priceless videos referencing many popular fictional and non-fictional characters such as Napoleon Dynamite, Ron Burgundy, and Lloyd Christmas. Each cast is also made up of Backcountry staff and community members in Squamish.
“I'm the guy who's running,” said Reeder when speaking about one of their latest videos advertising a beer which was brewed in collaboration with the Squamish Days Logger Sports Festival.
His business partner, Stefan Hebert, also stars in some of their content. “My partner is the guy who plays Jim Carrey when we have Jim Carrey references for our viewers.”
With Reeder's professional film gear, it only takes a bit more to get the video content just right.
“Our beers have pop culture references, so that plays really well into my sort of ability to create cheap videos,” Reeder said. “We buy a wig. That's our budget. $30 on Amazon and maybe a t-shirt or something or whatever prop we buy. And then we just go and shoot it.”
Overflowing with ideas, the Backcountry Brewing marketing team is expanding with plans to team up with UK ski wear company, OOSC, to make a promotional video highlighting both companies.
“We're planning the Daffy Twister Spread video, which is the ski one,” said Reeder. “They reached out and they were like, ‘Hey, this would mix with our things.’ Because they have all these retro, kind of like 70s, 80s inspired ski gear.”
For more Backcountry Brewing content, check out their social media channels:
Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
