Branded entertainment has exploded in the U.S. But for a brewery like Big Boss, creating and distributing branded entertainment come with some restrictions.

All content, including any pages on bigbossbrewing.com, must have age verifications. And any content associated with sampling beer must be monitored to ensure underage drinkers cannot have access.

Because our goal was to enhance the beer trial experience, our solution was designed to work best in venues that are already licensed to serve beer and require age verification, such as festivals and bars.

This allowed us to reach our target at the right times and simultaneously overcome the hurdles of U.S. alcohol advertisement restrictions.

Beer and video games were meant for each other. The beercade marries them into one experience that reflects the irreverent nature of the Big Boss Brewing brand. Every component of The Last Barfighter game was developed specifically for Big Boss.

The five game characters — Bad Penny, Angry Angel, Blanco Diablo, Hell’s Belle and High Roller — are named for their signature beers and designed to reflect their beer labels. The cabinet was custom-built for the video screens, controls and beer keg. Then it was wrapped with hand-illustrated panels to encourage players at festivals to unleash their inner beer warriors.

Since its unveiling at Big Boss’s Oktoberfest event, The Last Barfighter beercade machine has generated over 100 million PR impressions equaling more than $1.1 million in earned media, with $0 in paid media spent. NBC News called it, “a flash of genius,” while geekologie.com said simply, “Damn yeah!”

After the release of a promotional video for the game on YouTube, site traffic to bigbossbrewing.com increased 400% and daily page views increased 254%.

The beercade’s success has translated into sales, too. Big Boss experienced a 200% increase in distributor requests.