Häagen-Dazs asked Toronto for a pint. Stella Artois said yes.

Häagen-Dazs put up a billboard in Toronto’s west end with a simple line: “Let’s grab a pint.”

A pint of ice cream, not beer, part of the brand’s Häagen-Dazs ice cream pint campaign.

Stella Artois read it differently. Within days a second board went up on the same structure, right alongside the first: “Are you asking us out?”

Stella Artois booked a spot adjacent to the rival board, so the two ads read as one exchange to anyone driving past. The timing helps too: the last stretch of patio season, when a beer and an ice cream sundae are both fair answers to “fancy a pint.”

Stella Artois’ comeback came from Citizens Relations Canada and Draftline, the in-house creative shop it shares with Labatt Breweries of Canada, with Starcom handling media.

Draftline were also behind Stella’s snowstorm-triggered billboard stunt in January, and the brand followed this with its Beckham-fronted World Cup push in the spring.

Billboard banter between brands is not new: Burger King and Doritos have built entire campaigns on playful brand-to-brand ribbing.

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