30 Years of Not Normal

Three Floyds Brewing, the celebrated Midwestern craft brewery, is celebrating its 30 year anniversary with the debut of a new integrated campaign, “30 Years of Not Normal.”
Spanning OOH, social, and digital, the new work brings the brewery’s irreverent world to life by placing their iconic characters Zombie Dust and Gumballhead into everyday Chicago environments.

Developed in partnership with its key creative agency and fellow Midwesterner, Someoddpilot, the campaign builds on its existing “It’s Not Normal” brand platform while putting a distinctly local spin on the brewery’s anniversary.

At a time when craft beer is contracting, the brewer is actually outperforming the category and using its 30th anniversary as a moment to invest in the brand rather than retreat.

This campaign begins a new chapter for the brand, which will be followed by a broader identity and portfolio evolution.

Taking Not Normal to Normal Places
At the heart of the campaign is Chicago itself. Rather than simply placing OOH around the city, Someoddpilot turned familiar local settings into the state for the brand’s larger-than-life characters.
Zombie Dust and Gumballhead are seen engaging in everyday activities like grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, hanging out in the garage, and bowling - ordinary Midwestern activities made decidedly not normal by the presence of two giant beer mascots.

Beyond the OOH, SOP has also created a series of video assets to expand and improve on the gag.
Zombie Dust is a green, Frankenstein-esque character who wears armor, a gold crown, and a red cape.
Gumballhead is a wide-eyed, cartoonish cat character with yellow fur, a large head, sunglasses, and a cigarette in its mouth.

And instead of using CGI or AI, the brand and SOP went 180 degrees in the opposite direction - tapping Margaret Rolicki, the primary artist and fabricator within the GWAR art collective, Slave Pit Inc., to give the campaign’s already-unusual characters an appropriately unconventional physical form.
Two Someoddpilot employees even stepped inside the mascot suits for the shoot - truly embracing the DIY origins of craft beer and metal music.

The soundtrack comes from thrash metal band Municipal Waste, extending Three Floyds’ longstanding connection to metal culture.