For Italy, Milan World Expo is maybe the biggest event of the century. But one month before the opening, works are being delayed due to typically Italian reasons: corruption and scandals.

Builders in the yards have to double their shifts and give up on paid overtime. Our brand is Ceres, a beer for tough people with a claim that states: “The town needs heroes”. And who’s more heroic than these guys?

We celebrate them with a print campaign and we launch a call to action on Facebook: “Let’s bring these guys a beer”. On April 1st at 5pm, 800 tired and thirsty workmen get out of the yards and find chilled beer and slices of pizza for free, served by dozens of grateful common citizens. The initiative has an immediate, spontaneous and huge media echo.

Main Italian beer brands are spending tons of money in sponsoring Milan World Expo and its pavilions. Ceres is not, but it wants to witness its empathy with the real heroes of the Expo, those who more deserve a beer: the workmen in the building yards. The activation is very consistent with Ceres' brand positioning: "The Town need heroes".

RESULTS IN JUST ONE DAY

The print ad and the event on Facebook immediately boomed on social networks and national media.

1300 people joined the event on Facebook in less than one hour.

10.000 likes on Facebook posts regarding the campaign

Over 600 tweets, retweet and mentions. (#1 twitter trend in Milan)

Over 70 mentions on blogs and news websites

Many national media spontaneously mentioned the campaign, including:

3 main national newspapers: "Repubblica", "Corriere della Sera" and "Il Messaggero"; the most listened radio network (Radio Deejay).

Estimated total reach: 20,000,000

On April 1st, we celebrate workmen with a 4 page press campaign saying: “They have just one month to finish the work. And it’s not an Aprils fools' joke”.

There’s also a call to action: “Let’s bring these guys a beer”. We launch an event on Facebook: at the and of the day shift, we’re going to bring some beers to the workmen,and we invite people to come with us.

At 5 pm, 800 tired and thirsty workmen get out of the yards and find a surprise: chilled beer and slices of pizza for free. And the people who serve them are not hostess and stewards in livery, but dozens of grateful common citizens who decided to follow our call.

For Italy, Milan World Expo is the biggest event of the century. We had 7 long years to get the town prepared, but one month before the grand opening it looks like we are not going to make it.

Works are being delayed due to typically Italian reasons: corruption and scandals. Workmen in the building yards have to double their shifts and give up on paid overtime.

Our brand is Ceres, a beer for tough people with a claim that states: “The town needs heroes”. And who’s more heroic than these guys? Who deserves a beer, if not them?

Ceres is a very popular beer, a true love mark with an online community of 600,000 active and engaged fans. In Italy, it's very famous for its real-time activation, for its provocative instant ads on Facebook, and for its witty and clever tone of voice.

The campaign was planned on: Ceres Facebook fanpage;

main Milan's free press: Milan's citizens are the most involved with the Expo, and they are really sensing the risks of an "Expo Epic Fail".