Greene King Brewery, which can trace its roots back to 1799 when 19-year-old Benjamin Greene set up shop in Bury St Edmunds after completing his brewer training, is celebrating the years, decades, and centuries it takes to master something special, while helping to showcase the company’s quality beers beyond its pubs.
“Beer Slide” is the latest campaign under the brewer’s “Legendary Beers, Centuries in the Making” brand platform, developed by creative agency Neverland and follows the eternal quest to master the perfect beer slide across centuries of English history.
From medieval taverns and Napoleonic warships through to England’s iconic 1966 World Cup victory and the present day, each attempt brings a new way for the beer to go wrong, before finally landing perfectly in a Greene King pub.
The campaign is rooted in the idea of “English legends”, using familiar moments and characters from English history to bring Greene King Brewery’s own brewing heritage to life.
The film is accompanied by a bespoke recreation of a 17th-century Latin aria, with the original lyrics reworked to simply sing about “beer”.
Neverland creative director Lloyd Daniel said: “Greene King’s legendary beers are matched only by their legendary tales, and this is just chapter one.”
The activity follows Greene King Brewery’s recent Beer Tapestry activation, where an 8 metre embroidered history of beer was created and hung in the Museum Tavern pub, which was renamed the Beer Tapestry for the duration of the campaign.
The pub located opposite the British Museum, home to the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, garnered global media attention, gaining huge share of voice, successfully hijacking this cultural moment.
This latest campaign continues the focus on Greene King’s beer credentials, with activity running across AV, social and out-of-home in the UK and Ireland.
Greene King Brewing & Brands head of marketing Alex Radcliffe commented: “At Greene King, we are incredibly proud of our 227-year brewing heritage. Since then, we’ve been perfecting the art of the British pint and this new work brings this rich history to life with wit and energy, showing viewers exactly how far our beer has travelled to become the superb pint it is today.”
The media strategy, developed by the7stars, is designed to bring the creative proposition to life and establish Greene King as a symbol of authentic English brewing.
Using Greene King’s first-party sales data alongside the7stars’ audience planning tool, Gravity Connect, the campaign will identify beer drinkers across London and the South-East with the greatest potential to drive consideration and sales.
Video forms the foundation of the campaign, with the 30-second film running across premium VOD and YouTube, supported by shorter-form assets, high-impact digital display and an OOH campaign spanning large-format DOOH, roadside, London Underground, bespoke lenticular executions and flyposting.
The7stars business director Amber Stephens commented: “Rather than relying on traditional pub catchment targeting, we’re using audience intelligence to focus investment on the beer drinkers most likely to drive growth for Greene King.
“Bringing that precision together with high-impact storytelling gives us the opportunity to build the brand’s brewing credentials while driving consideration at the point of choice.”
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