“Black is Beautiful”: Will Strawser Shoots Jägermeister Brewery Partnerships

New York City-based photographer Will Strawser began working with Jägermeister in 2019 on their Deer and Beer advertising campaign, which showcased Jägermeister’s partnerships with multiple breweries across the United States. This year Jägermeister brought Will back on for the 2020 Deer and Beer campaign, as well as several smaller campaigns including Black is Beautiful.

The 2019 Deer and Beer campaign imagery actually made it into Communication Arts Photo Annual. Since then, we’ve worked on multiple projects together, and Jägermeister is one of my favorite clients to work with.

For the 2019 Deer and Beer shoot, Will traveled to five different cities across the United States to shoot on location at partner craft breweries. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the shoot was done entirely in Will’s midtown Manhattan studio without any additional crew members.

Since I was shooting in isolation, with no crew and clients checking in remotely, it allowed for a lot of experimentation and variation in the shots. It was very freeing to work on a campaign in this way and have the end result be so highly praised.

Over the course of a few weeks in April and May, Will shot imagery for banner ads and the client’s Instagram feed. The final deliverables included mostly still images and moving GIFs to highlight the Deer and Beer social campaign and the client’s brewery partnerships.

Beyond the Deer and Beer campaign, Will also shot images to showcase the client’s inclusion in the Black is Beautiful campaign on their social media pages. Black is Beautiful is a charitable project started by Weathered Souls Brewing Company in San Antonio to raise awareness of injustices faced by people of color. Participating breweries were asked to donate 100% of the proceeds from their “Black is Beautiful” beer to local organizations supporting equality, inclusion, police reform, and legal defense.

Several breweries that Jägermeister partners with for the Deer and Beer campaign, including Stone Brewing, J. Wakefield Brewing, Rhinegeist Brewery, and Yazoo Brewing Company, participated in the “Black is Beautiful” campaign. Jägermeister matched up to $50,000 in donations.

I actually hadn’t heard of the Black is Beautiful project prior to this shoot. On a creative call with Jägermeister to go over the project they informed me all about it and that they were matching donations to the project. It is a really cool idea that deserves recognition.

The Black is Beautiful shoot was pretty amazing since it was for a good cause that I believe in. I also donated 50% of the project fee for this project to the NAACP to help fight racial injustices.

Will’s shots from the Deer and Beer and Black is Beautiful campaigns can be seen on Jägermeister’s social media pages and as banner ads on certain liquor store websites.

See more of Will’s work at willstrawser.com.

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