By now you've probably seen the Old Milwaukee ads starring Will Ferrell. They're all over and seem to fill up my Facebook feed daily. Not that I have a problem with that, though, as they're very funny and creative.
You may not know that Ferrell himself pitched the idea to the Pabst Brewing Co., the brewers of Old Milwaukee, and did the series of ads for no charge.
The initial spots featured Davenport, Iowa, but Matt Sievers, the Milwaukee market agent for Pabst, tells us that the Ferrell spots filmed in Milwaukee in September are now up and running too.
They, of course, also are great. One is filmed at The Brewery (former Pabst Brewery near Downtown) and another features Ferrell on a bike ride through Milwaukee. The bike spot shows many area land marks including the Milwaukee Public Market, Hoan Bridge, Alterra Coffee Roasters and the Oriental Theater.
Watch for additional spots soon too as one source says 19 total spots were filmed.
There's been so much written about these great ads that there's really little new to say. So, just enjoy them and, if you want, go buy a 12-er of Old Milwaukee.
Cheers!
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
