Milwaukee is a city founded on ethnic diversity, tradition and heritage, from Germans and Italians to Irish and Polish. These groups first came to Milwaukee in search of jobs and higher opportunities, as this was once the home of booming commerce, industry and shipping. Today, the city remains a melting pot of different ethnicities, which have passed on their legacies to a new generation of Milwaukeeans…including me.

A lifelong Wisconsin citizen and current Milwaukee resident, I have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for an old-fashioned Friday fish fry, cheese and, of course, beer. A large portion of the city’s economy and identity was founded on the classic lager, from Blatz to Schlitz (“The beer that made Milwaukee famous”). But like most industries, beer production in Milwaukee has ebbed and flowed, as breweries have come and gone since the 1800s.

Today, Milwaukee’s vintage, “old school” brands are staging comebacks, and Milwaukee is alive with an array of beer production, from local microbrews to Miller (national distributor and the world’s second largest brewery now corporately headquartered in Chicago as MillerCoors). Another such brand staging a comeback is Pabst Blue Ribbon, a Milwaukee original. Even the can still reads, “Established in Milwaukee 1844.”

But when California-based S&P Company moved Pabst Blue Ribbon (more commonly referred to as “PBR”) operations from Milwaukee in 1996, a growing population grew disenchanted with the brand. Many were upset about the brewery’s departure after 152 years here, proving how much of a staple beer has been for our economy.

But as the story suggests, Milwaukee is just part of a national resurgence for PBR. (And perhaps it’s this unique story that makes the classic taste go down even smoother.)

You see, PBR ceased all advertising in the 1980s. “From 1978 to 2001, [it] was a brand in decline. It wasn’t hip; it hadn’t developed that retro cachet… That all changed when Pabst Brewing Co. launched a word-of-mouth campaign that prompted the national resurgence.” The word of mouth first spread with the help of Portland bike messengers, who had “grown up being inundated with ads from big breweries in the ’80s and ’90.” Therefore, they were not big supporters of major brands.

PBR set out — through grassroots marketing — to reestablish a brand identity as an alternative to its mainstream counterparts. While the major breweries sponsored large-scale venues — concerts, festivals and sporting events — PBR associated its brand with smaller, local-level events across the country. In fact, just last year I attended a Bay View street festival called “Pabst Blue Ribbon Street Fest,” featuring indie bands in an historic Milwaukee suburb that is recreating an identity for itself as a hipster neighborhood.

This move by PBR solidified “the brand as a supporter, not only of independent live music but of hipster culture in general. From bike messenger to bike messenger and from music fan to music fan, the buzz created by the word-of-mouth campaign generated sales in 2002, resulting in PBR’s first volume increase since 1978.”

As I mentioned earlier, PBR experienced more resilience in Milwaukee because residents still harbored animosity against the brewery for closing Milwaukee operations. “The brewery used to be there, and there was a huge backlash against Pabst.” The backlash means that the word-of-mouth advertising took a little longer to take root here. For the adopters, leaving a mark on the city meant separating the brand from the stigma.

This was helped along by PBR contracting with MillerCoors in 2001 to brew its “portfolio” of beers. To Milwaukeeans, this softened the harsh blow of bowing out of the city in 1996, demonstrating a willingness to nurture those hometown roots that helped PBR and Milwaukee become synonymous for “authentic.”

This case exemplifies the power of viral marketing, of word-of-mouth advertising. And the way this company used viral marketing shaped PBR’s “new” brand, resurrecting retro by making it hip. By sponsoring local, hometown events and independent venues, PBR’s brand identity has been redefined. It has become synonymous with a growing hipster subculture and has epitomized the mainstream alternative. And even mainstream beer drinkers are beginning to take notice of PBR’s resurgence.

When I bring PBR to the party, my family to the north gives me an odd look, calling the beer “skunky” and “old” (I prefer “retro,” “hip” or “authentic”). But here in Milwaukee, Pabst is part of a growing subculture, a movement against giant brewers like Anheuser-Busch. The irony is that giant corporation MillerCoors is helping the small brand regain its foothold. But it’s this irony that Milwaukee is willing to overlook, as this partnership demonstrates a local effort by two longtime supporters of our economy.

Here, PBR is the brand that trend setters and hipsters have adopted. You can find PBR at indie concert events such as the Amos Lee show I attended last weekend, featuring $3 PBR cans. Even Lee, a folk/soul singer and songwriter, himself said he couldn’t wait to return to Wisconsin on a leg of his tour to enjoy a PBR where it all started.

Source: Emily Patti, “Pabst Calls It a Comeback,” ExpressMilwaukee.com, 20 April 2010.