If you’ve been drinking one of Stone Brewing‘s beers lately and discovered that the label is upside-down, be aware that it’s not because you drank too much nor because it was a packaging error within the company. They did it on purpose. The not-so-accidentally mishap happened as part of San Diego-based brewery’s campaign to encourage consumers to “Leave No Stone Unturned.”

The 9th largest craft brewer in the United States released its beer bottles with a “mistaken” label throughout the nation in June. With no explanations, the company tried to catch its fans off guard. Only recently did the brewery accept that it was a “mistake.” “We made a huge mistake,” says Greg Koch, Co-founder, Stone Brewing. “Truth be told, we’ve made thousands of them. You see, every Stone is the result of trial and error and error and error until all that’s left is the best damn beer we can brew. We sweat the small stuff, constantly pushing the boundaries of independent craft beer. So no, these upside-down labels aren’t a mistake. They’re the visual manifestation of our most deeply-held belief. Because in the pursuit of craft beer perfection, we leave no stone unturned,” he continued.

Via the campaign, made with the help of creative agency Big Family Table and creative animation and mixed media studio LOBO, the brewery wants to highlight that it celebrates every accomplishment, even though some of them were born as failures. The initiative marks Stone’s first-ever advertising campaign in the US and speaks about the company’s obsessive goal to work on their brewing process until perfection is reached. And they do this by inviting beer consumers to enjoy its products while also experiencing the perks of that perfection toward which the company aims.

“Since founding Stone Brewing in 1996, we’ve been fortunate to participate in making the craft beer revolution what it is today,” the chairman continued. “Stone enthusiasts have come to expect innovation and collaboration, and frankly it’s been our honor to deliver. We’re undertaking an ad campaign that we hope will simply remind our fans to both revisit our iconic Stone IPA, as well as to ‘unturn’ some new Stones and discover our wide range of more recent offerings.”

Stone announced that it will keep the labels as they are, upside-down, urging consumers to look at the brewery from a different angle (literally!).

Credits:

Client: Stone Brewing

Agency: Big Family Table