#TBT: Discover Abraxas Beer in This Mysterious Print Ad

Known as the master of the 365 spirits, the God Abraxas is behind this week’s #ThrowBrandThursday story, which inspired the brewing and beverage giant Backus SABMiller to launch a premium beer in 2015 that impresses even the most demanding beer connoisseurs. Abraxas originally claims to be both an Egyptian god and a demon. The union of two opposite and intangible beings makes this mystical entity a well-balanced one. Faithful to its name and following the deity’s duality, the beer’s taste is described as a perfect equilibrium between flavors. Adding to this fact, its manufacturers claim it is only brewed twice a year when the amount of daylight is equal to nighttime.

As the beer is shrouded in mystery, it clearly invites a form of mysterious advertising. Therefore, SABMiller joined forces with advertising agency Wunderman Phantasia and identified the best way to promote this high-quality beer through an interactive print as enigmatic as the beer itself.

The balanced combination of the special hops and caramel flavors give birth to a beer that makes consumers enjoy not only its intense taste, but also the inner meaning hidden behind this special beverage.

Although there is a complicated story revolving around the beer, the Mysterious Black Print ad created for the drink is quite simple: within the pages of Lima magazine, there is a full page reserved for the beer’s promotion. What seems to be a black page was, in fact, an invitation for readers to discover the exquisite beverage. The ad included a note, tempting the readers to look after a secret message using a common ‘key’.

Just a few days ago, the agency Wunderman showed us how we can use technology for a good cause by launching the Eco Alarm app that offers users the chance to save endangered forests just by using their phone alarm. Only, in Abraxas’ case, the Lima-based agency preferred to use an innovative printing technique.

With this method, the “creatively driven, data inspired” company managed to create an original interactive print which displays a hidden secret only when someone uses the world’s most natural energy source: light. Avoiding the use of a mobile app or QR code, the secret message becomes evident only when the readers slip their mobile phone’s flashlight under the mystical page.

The Mysterious Black Print | Click to enlarge

Besides its superior quality aroma, Abraxas is a beer with its own complex, yet balanced spirit. Just thinking about its numerology and the mystery around it, the beer has more secrets waiting to be discovered: a perfect alcoholic dose of 7% ABV, and a name consisting of seven letters, which may represent the seven classical planets known by man.

The beer is produced only twice a year, around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Thanks to the mystery surrounding the deity, the premium beverage is made exclusively for consumers who love to resolve puzzles. Would you try to solve one?

The campaign proved to be very successful, considering a maximum efficiency of over 1000% ROI, while sales increased by 44%. It also had a great media impact globally and was an award-winning project at the Cannes Lions – International Festival of Creativity in 2016.