Beginning in 2021, Pelican Brewing sought to establish a more pronounced position in the key market of Portland, Oregon. With a mission to build awareness, and grow our audience and reputation in the area, we sought out potential partners with like-minded values, cohesive and passionate target audiences, and of course a love of adventure and craft beer. As the Pelican representative, I built a partnership with the Portland Thorns through key media partners to become an official sponsor of this local, women’s sports team. As the top-attended women’s professional sports franchise in the world, we established tap distribution and product placements in beautiful Providence Park to celebrate with fans between their cheers, expanded our beer offerings in surrounding bars and restaurants in the area and used impactful displays, signage, and media in-stadium placements to highlight our ever-growing presence. In our three-year commitment, we also negotiated for tickets to the games to share with our Pelican team members, create co-branded merchandise and player ambassador gifts (custom mini-fridges stocked full of beer of course), while utilizing Thorns player appearances for contests, event appearances, and even to coach a children’s soccer camp on the beach in Pelican’s hometown on the Oregon Coast – bringing fans from the city to the sea. From there, we built upon our relationship and I managed the creation of the first-ever official beer of the Portland Thorns. Collaborating with our Pelican Brew Team we crafted a goal-worthy beer, to celebrate every goal with smoke in the air and a perfect hazy in hand to truly capture the spirit of the incredible Portland Thorns FC.

Branding, Package Design, Collateral Design, Media Content, Advertising Design, Brand Ambassador Management, Environmental Design, Brand Collaboration, Brand Management, Creative Direction

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Team: Portland Thorns Marketing & Partnerships Team and Pelican Brewing Leadership Team, Natalie Fields, Pelican Director of Marketing, Alex Pallas, Pelican Content Manager

Featured Photography by: Alex Pallas