The Campaign

We learnt Climate Change will actually affect Australia’s most sacred beverage – beer. Climate Change will increase the frequency and severity of droughts, which will have a disastrous impact on beer’s main ingredients - barley, hops and water. So we asked Young Henrys to do the unthinkable. Brew a beer that was undrinkable.We brewed a poor quality beer under drought-like conditions called Drought Draught to give Aussie blokes a free “taste of the effects of Climate Change”. We started changing Aussie male’s hearts and minds about Climate Change through their taste buds. Drought Draught was served in pubs across Australia for people to sample. Then after tasting it, we asked pub-goers to “Give a shout for the planet” and donate the cost of a beer to the Climate Council, Australia’s leading Climate Change lobbyist.

The Brief

Overall Budget: $15,000 Media Spend: $0 message with total reach over 5.5 million Australians. Cost Per Piece: Cost per Schooner of Drought Draught served = 62 cents.

Creative Execution

We tapped into Young Henrys distribution network putting Drought Draught beer taps in some of Australia’s most iconic pubs. Donation points were set up behind the bar so pub-goers could “Give a shout for the planet” and donate the cost of a beer to the Climate Council after tasting Drought Draught. They were also handed Drought Draught beer coasters directing them to where they could donate online. While on a grassroots level Drought Draught was directly influencing hearts and minds of Aussie males, it was also influencing the wider Australian public through PR and social channels. A video demonstrating the effects Climate Change could have on beer was seeded online where it would get the most amount of traction. The Drought Draught story was also picked up nation-wide by the media, featuring in some of Australia’s leading news publications.

Results

Over the campaign period, Drought Draught and its message had reached over 5.5 million Aussies. All this with a media spend of $0. Climate Council donations increased overall and Young Henrys was featured in the public eye as the brewer behind the beer that lets you “taste the effects of Climate Change”. But most importantly, the Australian Government agreed to sign the historic Paris Climate Change Accord in November 2015. While we can’t directly attribute Drought Draught to their actions, we like to think that turning the nation’s narrative on Climate Change, into a more palatable argument about beer, had something to do with it.

Drought Draught was a direct campaign designed to incite immediate action from Australian males on the issue of Climate Change. Consumers had the opportunity to taste the Drought Draught beer in pubs and clubs across Australia, then immediately “Give a shout for the planet”. They could donate the cost of a beer over the bar counter or take away a Drought Draught coaster which directed them to drought-draught.com.au to make an online donation. All proceeds went to the Climate Council, Australia’s leading Climate Change lobbyist, helping increase their funding to influence policy makers and government.

Australians had tuned out to the traditional scare tactics used in Climate Change campaigns. All the talk about shrinking ice caps, rising sea levels, increased drought and severe weather events was falling on deaf ears because Aussies weren’t seeing the direct impact it would have on their day-to-day lives. But beer is sacred to the average Australian male. It’s engrained in our culture and way of life. By demonstrating the effects Climate Change would have on beer we were presenting an argument for Climate Change action in a very Australian and masculine way. Furthermore, we did it in an environment conducive to robust conversation - the Australian pub. Our call to action was also very Australian. We used the concept of giving a “shout”, letting pub-goers take action on Climate Change at the bar counter by donating the cost of a beer to the Climate Council.