Rainier: A Beer Odyssey

The sprawling, epic story of one indomitable beer brand's legendary advertising campaign is inextricably linked to the sprawling, epic story of the city from which it hails. Directed by Tacoma hero Isaac Olsen and produced by The Peterson Brothers. In the heart of Seattle, the shadow of Mount Rainier, and it's namesake, Rainier Beer, loom large. First brewed in Seattle in 1878, before Washington was even a state, Rainier stands as one of the most successful regional beer brands in the nation. Through the decades, their marketing strategies closely paralleled what was going on in the greater beer universe. Predictable campaigns which lived up to shifting American norms. That all changed in 1974. Gordon Bowker, one of the three original founders of Starbucks, teamed up with Terry Heckler, the budding brand and marketing wizard, to create Heckler/Bowker, a small boutique ad agency. Rainier Beer, experiencing an early 70s brand imaging crisis, decided to take a chance on the young upstarts and commissioned them to craft a new campaign with an emphasis on TV. It paid off. Thanks to the new approach by Heckler/Bowker, Rainier quickly became the best selling beer in the state, surpassing even national giants like Miller and Budweiser. The new television ads, cutting edge in their simplicity and contrarian attitude to accepted advertising practices, immediately captured the imaginations of the entire region. They were quirky, zany, yet dry and underplayed. They mocked themselves. They pulled the curtain back to reveal their own stagecraft. Several themes emerged. Giant beer bottle mammals, Mountain Fresh Rainiers, made the biggest impression, but sheer anarchic variety was the concept. Direct parody had never before been elevated to this degree, with everything from top 40 radio, Saturday Night Live, Star Wars, the Rambo films, and even rival beer commercials being singled out for the Rainier treatment by Terry, Gordon, and lead writer Ed Leimbacher. Mickey Rooney, the fading Hollywood icon, was also roped into the fray for 5 years. No one who witnessed these groundbreaking ads during their original 12 year run has ever forgotten them. Original motion picture outtakes, rediscovered after 25 years and lovingly restored to their original cinematic glory, reveal a quality never experienced on television screens. It's as if each of these iconic ads were conceived of as mere scenes in a greater, hitherto unseen epic. At long last, the full picture is revealed. Rainier: A Beer Odyssey attempts to cement a new genre, that of pure advertising as art, the found footage film as spectacle, the educational case-study as comedy, and the transformation of brand itself into narrative. It is also the story of a forgotten industry; of a time when Seattle was not only a viable, but a thriving film production destination. For the very first time, the technicians, artists, writers, and craftspeople tell the true story of the most legendary ad campaign in the state of Washington. This campaign which Terry and Gordon conceived of exactly 50 years ago this summer, not only redefined and revitalized Rainier Beer, but left an indelible mark on the national advertising landscape, and has come to define the very sensibility of The Northwest itself, now more than ever.Rainier: A Beer Odyssey showing at: December 24, 1:45 pm

Location: The Grand Cinema 606 Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma, WA, 984026

2024-12-24T13:45:00-08:00PT2H4M2024-12-24T15:59:00-08:00105

Isaac Olsen

Rainier: A Beer Odyssey"