In China, craft beer sales gather only 1% of the market compared to 14% globally. This happens because the citizens of the world’s most populous country consider craft beer as being expensive or having a heavy taste. So, you can imagine that it would be kind of hard to change their perceptions. But not if you are AB InBev, a multinational drink and brewing holdings company, that happens to have an office in China. The brand has decided to ‘show its claws’ to get noticed in this vast market. And how better make people hear about your product than by joining hands with R/GA Shanghai, Shanghai-based production company Final Frontier, and Buenos Aires studio Le Cube to develop a campaign hero? World, meet Louie, a kickass cat that’s become the ambassador of Boxing Cat Brewery‘s new Amber Lager.

Launched at the beginning of June, the tasty ale comes with a berserk theme-song-slash-opening-credits animated film about a superhero cat boxer that rides the country’s towns of mundane beer, one haymaker at a time. Known to the public as “First Blood”—named after the lager—and with the “Defeat Ordinary” tagline, the film puts the spotlight on Louie, a character that draws its features from the original Boxing Cat logo. The anime tomcat’s main task is to patrol the city in search of insipid beers and apathetic civilians.

“Louie is the embodiment of the brand. He’s there to challenge the ordinary, so we see him patrolling the streets, ridding them of mundane beer, one haymaker at a time,” explains AB InBev Head of Craft & Specialties APAC, Nicolas Eduardo Morelli. “It’s beautiful. The storytelling is impactful and we’re incredibly happy with the result.”

Louie wasn’t programmed to be a superhero. When the artists gave birth to the cat, they thought of Muhammad Ali and wanted it to be a charismatic and suave stop-motion puppet. But when the creatives played the Spiderman theme song, it all clicked — “he’s a superhero who fights boring beers,” Terence Leong, R/GA Shanghai ECD, appreciates the edgy character.

Louie represents a 3D persona who was then adapted to a 2D aesthetic. “In developing Louie’s character, it was a fine line to have him embody all the wit, coolness and self-assured confidence of Muhammad Ali, and retain the essential humor, but without creating any sense of menace that could so easily have come across,” explains Le Cube Director Ralph Karam.

The results have exceeded the brand’s expectations, says Nicolas Eduardo Morelli, AB-Inbev Marketing VP. According to Morelli, the storyline is impactful and the cat looks awesome taking down ordinary beverages. With this project, the creative team hopes that other brands will step outside of its comfort zone and start incorporating the crazy. The film rolls out across China and appears on Boxing Cat’s official WeChat, and in live superhero-themed launch parties in Shanghai and Beijing. Who fancies a cat-themed ‘brewski’?

Credits:

Creative Agency: R/GA Shanghai

Executive Creative Director: Terence Leong

Creative Director: Shing Sian Chew

Associate Art Director: Rich Harris

Copywriter: Fang Cao

Designer: Jeremy Wang

Content Producer: Ivy Low (Freelance)

Producer: Ann Yao

Strategy Director: Connie Ho

Planner: Alan Wu

Managing Director: Sook Ping Chow

Account Director: Angela Tan

Client: AB InBev

AB InBev Marketing VP: Nicolas Eduardo Morelli

Boxing Cat Co-Founder: Lee Tseng, Kelley Lee

Boxing Cat Brewmaster: Michael Jordan

Zx Ventures Marketing Director: Judy Tseng

Boxing Cat Brand Manager: Kelsey Willis

Production Company: FINAL FRONTIER

Executive producer: Chris Colman, Gustavo Karam, Julieta Zajaczkowski

Animation Studio: LE CUBE

Director: Ralph Karam

Executive producer: Juan Manuel Freire, Fernanda Soma

Music & Sound Production: Kersound Studios

Composer: Akira Terao

Singer: Yang Kai

Music Supervisor: Greg Yu