There seem to be as many craft beers as designer gins in the UK these days (gins are supposedly easy, you go to the Polish shop, buy some strong vodka and chuck in a few herbs and spices). Some of the “craft” beers are owned by the drinks giants – who seem to have forgotten how to make beer with a taste – so you have to watch out.
Aberdeenshire-based Brewdog is independent and it’s offering what it calls the “world’s biggest round,” giving away one million pints of its best-selling Punk IPA to win new drinkers with a diverting online, social and outdoor campaign by indie London agency Isobel.
BrewDog co-founder James Watt says: “We’re in the midst of what will be a seismic change in beer drinking habits in the UK. The rise of IPA shows no signs of slowing down. This is a welcome sign that more people are open to beer that is full of flavour and character, and not just insipid, artificially flavoured offerings or faux-craft fraudsters.
“The millions of people around the UK who call Punk IPA their favourite beer cannot be wrong, that’s why we’re certain a million more will join them after experiencing their first pint of Punk.”
Isobel partner Jamie Williams says: “Most beer advertising has become a thing of clichés and empty promises but BrewDog have never been in this camp. They believe deeply in the quality of their product, and we always felt the best and most genuine way to recruit new BrewDog drinkers was to give as many people as possible the opportunity to try it. And one million people sounded like a good number.
“As a creative agency, asking people ‘not to buy the advertising’ might sound odd, but we hope people will appreciate this honesty, and judge the beer for themselves.”
BrewDog is in its fifth round of crowd-sourced fundraising Equity for Punks which has so far raised over £12m from more than 27,000 investors across Europe, due to close on October 15, 2018.
The intrepid brewer calls the campaign a “giant gamble for better beer.” Let’s hope they’ve got their sums right.
Nothing not to like and good to see there’s an agency that can still produce an arresting poster.
MAA creative scale: 8.
