The Beer Fairy Hunt campaign by The Works Sydney is based on a simple, goofy premise: there’s a battle raging and it’s our duty to stop the so-called beer fairies (filthy beer swilling gluttons with wings) in the war between ‘boring beer drinkers’ and everyone else. Inverting It’s a Wonderful Life’s old saw about angels getting their wings, every time someone buys a Canadian Club a beer fairy disappears in a puff of putrid smoke.

Driven by Steve Saussey-directed TVCs featuring the voice talents of John Cleese, the campaign’s recruitment mission extends to social media with the Beer Fairy Hunt app hosted on Canadian Club Australia’s Facebook page.

Once fans have ‘liked’ Canadian Club Australia on Facebook, users are then given the opportunity to “hunt beer fairies” by entering codes found on Canadian Club packs, online and on the streets. Every code entered gives the user a shot at an instant prize (a selection of CC-branded swag) and an entry for the grand prize of a trip for two to New York. 

Taking the fight to beer

“Beer Fairies was developed to extend the Over Beer? campaign by delving deeper and leveraging consumer insights that beer is boring,” says Damian Pincus, Creative Partner at The Works Sydney. “We personified the predictable nature of beer by creating the Beer Fairy; a dirty, unappealing creature who embodies all the negative traits associated with beer drinkers, positioning its own brand, and drinkers, as a refreshing alternative.”

It’s hoped that Beer Fairies will help increase Canadian Club’s growing brand recall and brand recognition scoring, with success being measured against social media engagement, YouTube views and sales figures.

Demographics

‘Beer Fairies’ is all about bringing new drinkers to the Canadian Club brand says Pincus. “C.C. is an aspirational 'step up' brand that is positioned primarily as a refreshing alternative to premium beer. We are targeting 'new recruits' – younger adults who are open to trying different alcohol flavours and brands. We see them as 'repertoire drinkers'. Really they are 20-30-year-old guys and girls – collarless, educated and speak their minds.”

Key Resources

The Works Sydney developed and executed both above-the-line and below-the-line elements of the campaign with Unity Communications managing media buying and Burson-Mastseller managing PR.

A comprehensive campaign

In efforts to take consumers on a journey as the battle against beer fairies rages, the campaign extends well beyond the showpiece of the John Cleese-narrated ads to take in a range of conventional media including outdoor, digital, and in-store activations as well as the significant social media component.

“With the hunt being so interactive, it made sense for us to have it take place within the online world as well as out in the real world,” says Pincus. “We've hidden codes across various sites that are favourite spots for our target demographic to visit, and the codes have been cleverly hidden throughout these sites.

“Having Canadian Club Australia's Facebook page as the base camp for hunters is allowing our fans to talk about the hunt and encourage each other. Social media has really made this campaign come alive.”

Those poor beer fairies take a beating

Although only just launched last week, ‘Beer Fairies’ is already generating results tangible results.

“If entries to the competition, engagement and talkability are anything to go by, we've begun another very successful chapter in the life of Canadian Club Australia” says Pincus. “Total Likes on the Canadian Club Australia page are up 14%, People Talking About Us has gone up 129%, and we've reached nearly a million people since the Beer Fairies app launched last week. We couldn't be happier with how the campaign is going so far.”

With the “dead beer fairies” counter already topping 300,000 at the time of writing, you can hardly blame them.