The Campaign

DB Export has always been a beer that had led the way in New Zealand – the creative platform that this work was operating under was ‘DB Export – Made By Doing’ which celebrates the pioneering history of both the beer and also its founder, Morton Coutts. Our idea was to turn drinking beer into a selfless act of environmental heroism. So we took the surplus yeast leftover after we finished brewing DB Export, and used it to create a biofuel called DB Export Brewtroleum. Brewtroleum emits 8% less carbon than traditional petroleum, so every time a man drinks DB Export, he’s helping to save the entire world.

Creative Execution

Across all consumer facing communications, we called on men of New Zealand for their help. The environment faces many threats, but simply by drinking DB Export they could help save the entire world. The entire campaign was driven by a tongue in cheek, but compelling, call to action across every consumer touchpoint. We launched with our hero site – a completely rebranded Gull petrol station in the middle of Auckland. Promoting this location with radio partnerships we experienced kilometre long queues down the street on our first day. Using digital, social, outdoor and TV, we made it clear to New Zealand that this was no one off PR stunt, that Brewtroleum was rolling out to every single one of the 62 Gull petrol stations across New Zealand. This allowed nearly all New Zealanders the opportunity to fill their cars with Brewtroleum.

The most important result of this campaign was simple. In a beer market declining at 6% per anum, sales of DB Export grew by an unprecedented 10% making it the fastest growing beer brand in the country.   Up and down the country men rallied to the planet’s defence. Thanks to their dedicated drinking we turned 58,000 tonnes of yeast slurry into 300,000 litres of Brewtroleum. Brewtroleum was sold on pump at 62 stations around the country, meaning that consumers were essentially paying $2.05/litre for our piece of marketing.    During the campaign period 8.6 million bottles of DB Export were sold.   The campaign resulted in a 50,000kg reduction in carbon emissions, and DB Breweries went on to win the nation’s highest sustainability award.   Heineken are now rolling the idea out through 50 of their biggest global breweries, potentially saving millions of tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere

To launch Brewtroleum to New Zealand, our campaign ran in almost every conceivable consumer touchpoint. From TV, digital, social and direct response vouchers to ambient outdoor, point of sale, promotional activations and PR – this was a campaign that fully embraced an integrated approach to consumer communications.

Men aged 25-34 are the biggest beer consumers both in New Zealand, and worldwide. This demographic is often painted as self-centred, blokey, and prone to moments of stupidity and shortsightedness. But our research into our core target market unearthed some more noble traits than the usual cliches suggest. We discovered that these men want to make a difference. They want to make their mark on the world and are more invested in their environment than we give them credit for. Sure, they’re still often blokey. Still prone to moments of stupidity but with underlying character traits that gave us a great way in. The simple call to action across all of the Brewtroleum campaign –drink DB Export and save the entire world– created a fun permissibility around beer drinking. It allowed NZ men, who had been turning away from the beer category to feel good about themselves for choosing us.