Beecher’s Handmade Cheese: Last Stand

Food & beverage branding agency, Mudge, and creative agency, SpecialGuest have collaborated on the first-ever paid advertising campaign for Seattle-based food brand Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, with a little help from the brand’s diehard fanbase. The series of twelve videos highlights real comments from social media and emails, using humor and Beecher’s trademark deliciousness to infuse the words with personality, as the brand celebrates its 20th anniversary.

The work is running on OTT and social media (YouTube preroll, Instagram, LinkedIn) in the Seattle/Tacoma market and will continue to roll out across the country throughout the coming year. The agencies created :30, :15, and :6 spots (36 executions) along with a 30-second audio ad featuring existing products, as well as new frozen SKUs including Tomato and Cauliflower Soup.

Each spot is built around a real comment that types across the screen as if for the first time. In the backdrop, we see sumptuous macro footage of the Beecher’s dish being described, cut to the beat of a song that amplifies the sentiment of the words. Moaning in the gas station thinking about mac & cheese? Flagship cheese going unnecessarily hard? Each take gets the right track to set the mood and elicit a chuckle from viewers.

The campaign’s objective is to solidify Beecher’s place as the most beloved brand in the Seattle area by raising awareness of their frozen products and growing households during the 20th anniversary year. The effort is coupled with new product launches, in-person sampling, and promotions.

“Not every brand has vocal superfans, but Beecher’s really does,” said founder and CEO Kurt Beecher Dammeier. “So, we let them speak for the brand and, in turn, communicate the authenticity and quality of Beecher’s.”

Beecher’s has a number of cafes at airports and a retail production facility in Seattle’s Pike Place Market where visitors can buy its artisanal cheeses, World’s Best Mac and Cheese, and watch cheese being made through a glass window. The line of frozen foods are sold in grocery stores across the U.S.