Situation

Stella Artois Unfiltered launched as ‘Beer, Au Naturel’ – a campaign that celebrated it as a beer in its most natural form. But the on-trade launch lagged a few months behind the launch in supermarkets.

Brief

Launch Stella Artois Unfiltered in pubs in a way that builds on Stella Artois’ role as champion and supporter of the on-trade during a time of need for pubs.

Objectives

Awareness of Stella Artois Unfiltered in pubs

Awareness of the challenge facing pubs

Positive sentiment amongst on-trade customers and public

Media insight

Pub signs are an iconic part of British culture and are found on pubs all over the country, but they’re being lost as pubs close-down.

Research

Bespoke research by Stella Artois revealed over half of Brits (55 per cent) agree that pubs are still the heart of their local community and 77 percent say it is ‘sad to see’ so many nearby watering holes closing-down in recent years. Pubgoers wanted to help beyond buying beer, but there was no easy way to do this.

Idea

The Pub Renaissance. A campaign to galvanize support for British pub culture by getting people to value pub signs – the original OOH media – as much as any piece of art in a gallery.

Inspired by the ‘Beer, Au Naturel’ idea, Stella Artois commissioned British artists to reimagine a series of pub signs as nude renaissance style artwork to be auctioned off to raise funds and start a conversation about saving pubs.

Audience

Primary - consumers: 25 – 40; ABC1; premium and super-premium beer drinkers; urban professionals. The pay more for brands that are authentic and distinctive – something a bit different with a strong sense of identity and values.

Secondary - trade: Independent publicans who are struggling during the cost of living crisis. They like Stella Artois and what it has been doing for pubs, but are yet to list Stella Artois Unfiltered.

Approach

The recreated pub signs were at the heart of the campaign – as the key media. as the subject for an auction to raise vital funds for Hospitality Action and acts as a talking point for the press and public.

Implementation

The cheeky series included ‘The Cricketers’ featuring a batsman with a strategically placed bat, a new view of 'Queen Victoria', a brand-new portrait of HRH King Charles for 'The Kings Head', as well as a sign featuring supermodel Jodie Kidd for her pub ‘The Half Moon’.

Media channels

The ‘au naturel’ pub signs were displayed outside pubs as an eye-catching and share-worthy OOH placement.

This was supported by a PR, social & influencer campaign that drove traffic to an art auction house website where the public could buy the original artwork and prints with all proceeds going towards the Hospitality Action charity.

Flyposters also gave on-the-ground presence within key nightlife areas in cities across the UK, placing our artworks amongst local street art and gig listings contributed to the grassroots flavour of the campaign and generated interest among an art enthusiast audience.

Awareness of Stella Artois Unfiltered in pubs and the issue: 2.23 billion earned reach, 69 media articles across national news (The Sun, Daily Mail) and culture news (ItsNiceThat, Hypebeast).

Positive sentiment amongst on-trade customers and public: 30% increase in Social following, 100% positive social mentions, 189 mentions. 100% incremental increase of on-trade distribution of Unfiltered.

Raised funds for Hospitality Action charity: 9 original artworks sold at auction, 150 prints sold and hundreds of pubs supported.