• February 14, 2008

A breaking print, poster, collateral, street, and POS campaign ties New Zealand's Steinlager beer in to USA Sevens, North America's largest rugby tournament, held in San Diego this month, and sponsored by Steinlager.

The campaign, tagged "Crack One Open," is the first work by advertising agency Cenergy Communications, East Aurora, N.Y., for the client.

The campaign's central image, an X-ray of a man with a broken arm, fingers gripping a Steinlager, plays on rugby's rough reputation. The image appears in print ads placed in local newspapers and the tournament program, on posters, on giveaway and for sale T-shirts, on coasters and banners distributed to tournament area bars, and on convenience store shelf-talkers.

In addition, teams of brand ambassadors among the contestants and fans hand out adhesive bandages imprinted with the "Crack One Open" tag and Rx pads bearing such doctors' orders as "Open up and say Steinlager," and "Take two Steinlagers and call us in the morning."

Steinlager is distributed in the U.S. by the independent High Falls Brewing Co., Rochester, N.Y. Previously, in New Zealand, Steinlager was the official beer of that country's champion All Blacks rugby team.