WorkInProgress Awarded Creative AOR Duties for Mike’s Hard Lemonade

WorkInProgress (WIP), an independent full-service creative agency, has been named creative AOR across the Mike’s Hard Lemonade portfolio. As the number one hard lemonade for the last two decades, this new partnership will be focused on driving continued growth and building on the iconic status the brands have achieved. WIP will be responsible for campaign development and execution across the three brands that make up the Mike’s portfolio: Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s HARDER Lemonade, and its latest offering, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer.

“With the upcoming launch of Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer, we need smart and engaging creative to stand out in what’s become a very crowded market,” said John Shea, the CMO at Mike’s Hard Lemonade. “WIP’s action-based approach will help us successfully launch Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer and allow us to continue to build on the tremendous growth the Mike’s portfolio has experienced.

The new creative will launch in March and continue throughout the year. “It’s not often you get to introduce a Hard Lemonade Seltzer made by Hard Lemonade experts because it’s never happened before,” said Matt Talbot, CCO of WorkInProgress. “This is an incredible creative opportunity to not only launch a new product, but also to help evolve an already iconic brand.”

In its first work for Mike’s Hard Lemonade, WIP jumped on a recent pop cultural moment that went viral. To illustrate how a hard day calls for a Mike’s Hard Lemonade, the shop launched an organic and paid digital effort on Friday that incorporated 'unreleased footage' from the Zoom Cat Lawyer fail video.

With the shift in creative AOR, media planning and buying has moved to Haworth Media. MSL will retain PR duties for Mike’s, and Epsilon will stay on to handle shopper marketing.

“We’ve assembled a powerful team to bring big ideas forward that will continue to grow our Mike’s portfolio of brands” said Shea.