For five years, Pilsner Urquell has been a proud sponsor of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, yet many still fail to associate the brand with the event. This challenge is compounded by the fact that beer is not seen as a “stylish” drink.

We needed to find a way to stand out from the clutter of sponsors by creating a buzz that would extend beyond the event itself. The aim was to seamlessly integrate the heritage brand into the fabric of the festival's glamour.

The red carpet captures everyone's attention at the festival. That's why we decided our brand needed a presence there in a manner that could rival the allure of big celebrity names and their fashion.

In a ground-breaking move, we crafted the first-ever designer gown made from Pilsner beer. We enlisted Anna Geislerová, a renowned Czech actress, to showcase this unique creation at the festival's opening ceremony.

This way, we could put our brand in the center of attention while bypassing the strict regulations related to brand visibility on the red carpet.

Given Pilsner Urquell's pricing as a premium beer, associating it with prestigious events like the KVIFF can enhance its high-quality perception. Yet, after 5 years of being a sponsor, our research showed that less than 10 percent of people spontaneously connect the brand with the festival.

This is also because beer, unlike champagne or wine, is not naturally connected with such fancy social occasions. Our goal was to shift this perception by linking Pilsner Urquell with the festival's most glamorous aspect with the highest media reach: the celebrities on the red carpet. However, we realized a traditional endorsement wouldn't suffice.

That’s why we recruited Anna Geislerová, one of the most famous Czech actresses and well known beer lovers to showcase our product on the red carpet in a never-before-seen way — in the form of a tailor-made designer red carpet gown.

We transformed 300 liters of Pilsner Urquell into 15 meters of a leather-like fabric using a natural fermentation process. In collaboration with Nanollose, an Australian based biotechnology company, we developed the material over four months.

Czech designer Jakub Polanka, known for his innovative use of unconventional fabrics, helped bring the gown to life. Inspired by the characteristic beer foam texture of traditional Czech lager, the final design featured approximately 4000 individual circles representing bubbles.

The reveal at the KVIFF opening ceremony was just the beginning. The gown gained extensive media coverage and was featured in a comprehensive campaign across TV, radio, online, social media, and print, amplifying the buzz well beyond the festival.

The campaign's climax saw the gown auctioned off for charity purposes, along with art pieces made from the leftover materials, raising over half a million CZK.

+51 million CZK in earned media

+155% earned PR value increase from last year

+76% spontaneous awareness (connection of the brand to the festival)

+13% volume of sales at the festival

The Instagram reel of the red carpet reveal was the most successful piece of online content in the brand’s history

Top alcohol brand at the festival (More talked about and recalled than Moet or Becherovka)

500 000 CZK total amount auctioned for charity after the event