The Brief

Our aim was to find out what makes a beer taste perfect, and then bottle the results. To do this, we devised a promotion that would allow our target audience to produce Australia’s first ever crowd-brewed beer – a brew that perfectly reflects the tastes and drinking culture of our target market. The more participation there was, the more perfect the beer would be.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We started by creating an iPhone app that allowed people to rate the beers they drank as they drank them. We then recruited highly social influencers and made a call to arms video to drive people to download the app. Casella Brewers took the data and used it to produce two potentially perfect lagers. Packs were split 50/50 and people were asked to vote to keep the brew they preferred. We also held a media event and sent out 50 personalised ‘talking head’ video invites. Advertising included a 3D cinema spot, outdoor lenticulars, radio and in-game ads (a media first).

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Almost 10% of the annual target ‘pre-sold’ before the beer had even launched. Top 30 iPhone app in iTunes Australia by downloads. Almost 10M earned media reach. Over 1M fans and friends of fans reached via social media channels. Almost 8000 beer ratings were collected from the app and over 100,000 data points were given to Casella Brewers for analysis. Call to arms video received over 50,000 organic views on YouTube. Over 30 different publications wrote about the launch.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Casella wanted to position this brand as innovative, clever and premium, so particular emphasis was placed on slick design, innovative media (e.g. iPhone, iPad, 3D cinema, lenticulars) and social interactivity. We needed the consumer to participate at every point of the creation of this new beer. To generate enough buzz, we needed the right people talking about the project. But to do that, we had to do more than buy their influence. We had to create something they had never seen before and deliver it in a user-friendly way.