This Beer's Packaging Is Fitted With Chords and Picks to Learn Guitar

Craft brewer SingleCut amped up cans of its new Notes IPA with chord charts that help folks learn to play guitar:

The colorful containers have a tactile finish that mimics the feel of a fretboard. Those pull tabs are fitted with detachable guitar picks, handy for ax grinding once you learn the C, D, G and E-minor finger positions shown in graphics on the cans.

The more you chug, the hotter your licks will sound … to absolutely no one. Please shred responsibly.

To help you improve for real, Notes IPA labels unlock play-along augmented reality music lessons on Snapchat:

And for an encore, the campaign, devised by Canadian agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, includes guitar-themed shipping tubes with posters inside:

This video breaks down the entire marketing set list:

“Single Cut” refers to the indentation in the top of some guitars, notably Gibson models, providing easy access to the frets. And rock-obsessed Rich Buceta founded the brewery. So, an ax-tastic Notes IPA rollout rang true for all involved. Agency associate creative directors Kevin Sato and Vinay Parmar developed the new IPA’s name—”notes” can apply to both music and beer, after all—along with the package design and pick-tabs.

“As a guitar player myself, I fell in love with the concept the minute the team presented it to me,” Zulu Alpha Kilo founder and creative lead Zak Mroueh recalls. “We wanted to make this a completely submersive experience and bring the teachable moments right to the consumer.”

“The AR filter allows the user to dive right in and begin learning how to play without even having to leave their seat,” he says. “This mobile experience allows you to visualize finger positions for each chord, hear how the chords should sound, and create shareable music.”

One final note (well, several, actually): As part of the push, SingleCut sent product samples in custom cases to famous guitarists like Jack White and Robbie Robertson, along with handwritten messages from Buteca, thanking them for years of great rock ‘n’ roll.

CREDITS

Client: SingleCut Beersmiths
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
CCO & Creative Director: Zak Mroueh
Head of Design: Stephanie Yung
ACD/Art Director: Kevin Sato
ACD/Writer: Vinay Parmar  
Art Director: Philippe Visaya
Writer: Victoria Lee
Designers: Zoe Kim, Kevin Sato
Clients: Rich Buceta, Dan Bronson, Danielle Palermo
Account Director: Erin McManus
Strategy Director: Spencer MacEachern
Digital Strategist: Shaunagh Farrelly
Producers: Houng Ngui, Kathryn Brown, Jackie Pal, Lauren Schell
Product Design: Spark Innovations Inc.
Production Company: Zulubot, Table of Content
Director of Integrated Production: Ola Stodulska
Studio Director: James Graham
Director of Interactive Production: Ece Inan
DOP/Photographer: Sean Donnelly
Senior Studio Artist: Jeannette Downes
Lead Production Artist: Ashleigh O’Brien
Lead Interactive Artist: Andrew Martin
Production Artist: Mila Lukezich
Intermediate Web Developer: Gillian Black
Post Production Assistant: Noah Mroueh
Social Media Editor: Cecilia Bernasch
Web Developer: Ariana Emond
Editor: Felipe Chaparro, David James Findlay