Summer’s cancelled. How Burns Group reimagined its summer campaign for Labatt just in time.

In March 2020, we had just wrapped a shoot in Oregon for Labatt’s critical summer season. On the flight back to New York to begin editing, the world just...stopped. 

With social distancing orders in full effect into the start of summer in Labatt’s core markets (the Great Lakes region), the BG team knew the original campaign we had just produced, which schools would-be lake goers on how to do the lake right with Labatt, was no longer relevant for a Memorial Day release. Within days, “Fake It Till We Lake It” was born. The campaign was inspired by posts of real people doing their best to recreate the lake activities they miss most under shelter-in-place orders.  Wanting to avoid the user-generated content that’s been filling social feeds since the pandemic began, BG tapped trusted production partners, Droptree to see what would be physically possible to film while in quarantine. Within 24 hours, the full team concepted a catchy jingle and five spots and the directors agreed to star in the spots themselves, creating DIY footage in their own yards, living rooms, garages and bathrooms. Fake It Till We Lake It encourages beer drinkers to stay home and enjoy Labatt until we are all allowed to get back out there on the lake again.