Warriors of the West - Coors Banquet
Creative Direction & Production
Coors Banquet has long aligned itself with rugged American legacy, but the brand wanted to go deeper, building purpose and emotional resonance into its platform. We saw an opportunity in a heroic community that lived that spirit every day, yet remained largely invisible: wildland firefighters.
Context
Insight
Most people don’t know what a smokejumper or hotshot even is, let alone the level of sacrifice and strength it takes to do the job. These men and women deserved to be seen, not just thanked. Unfortunately people know all too well that wildfires are rampant and catastrophic; but almost no one knows the coordination, sacrifice and grit it takes to be away from family and fighting an uncontrollable fire for three months.
This inside-process of relevant topics is what Uproxx’s audience loved learning about and sharing widely. To reinforce Banquet’s brand values in a meaningful, modern way, we dove deep into different parts of the wildland ecosystem and celebrated several unsung groups whose real-world courage embodied the brand — and whose stories had never been told at scale.
I pitched, sold, and creative-directed Warriors of the West — a multi-platform content campaign built to honor the Wildland Nation. It would be told through the eyes of the courageous Wildland Firefighter Foundation, who support loved ones of fallen and injured firefighters.
We created:
A five-part mini-documentary series filmed during one of the most intense fire seasons in U.S. history
Live community events
A limited-edition coffee table book
A speaker series
Social extensions and targeted distribution
Each piece highlighted a different thread — smokejumpers, air crew, ground responders, families of the fallen — elevating the human story behind the helmet.
Solution
9.2M video views
47.7M campaign impressions
Live events, screenings and film festival appearances
Deepened Coors Banquet’s brand equity with purpose-driven storytelling
Generated widespread community engagement and heartfelt press coverage
Impact
The Docuseries
Filmed during one of the most dangerous fire seasons on record, our five-part Warriors of the West docuseries was designed to spotlight the full ecosystem of wildland firefighting: the faces, roles, and realities that the public rarely sees. Each episode focused on a distinct pillar of the Wildland Nation, offering an inside look at the courage, coordination, and culture behind the frontlines.
The Wildland Firefighter Foundation — honoring the families and fallen, and the emotional toll behind the heroism
Smokejumpers — elite airborne responders parachuting into remote wildfire zones
Hotshots — highly trained crews enduring grueling terrain to hold the line
Air Attack — the pilots and aerial strategists fighting fire from the sky
Incident Command — the complex network of leadership, logistics, and coordination required to keep everyone alive
The series combined cinematic visuals with personal storytelling, capturing both the tactical brilliance and raw humanity of wildland fire. It wasn't just a tribute. It was a mirror held up to one of America’s toughest, most overlooked communities.
Coffee Table Book
As part of the Warriors of the West campaign, we created a limited-edition coffee table book that paid tribute to the Wildland community in a lasting, tactile form. Its proceeds would go to the Wildand Firefighter Foundation.
Featuring portraits, on-the-ground photography we captured in the field, and personal stories from smokejumpers, hotshots, and air crew, the book served as both a piece of brand storytelling and a heartfelt tribute. It was gifted at live events, sent to fire stations across the country, and became a cherished artifact for the very community it honored.
