Mountain Culture Brewery has launched a new campaign, conceived and produced by its in-house team talking up the best beer in Australia — its Status Quo Pale Ale.
Mountain Culture’s marketing team is led by Brad Firth, formerly global brand strategy and creative director at Nike in Amsterdam and Portland, as well as former VP, global brand strategy and creative at Koala.
The Katoomba-based brewery is the fastest-growing in the country and it now stands as the fourth largest independent brewery in Australia, just four years after launch. A large portion of that growth can be attributed to its Status Quo Pale Ale being voted the best beer in the country for the last two years.
This new campaign, running across Kayo, YouTube, social, select cinemas and OOH in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, will run right through spring and summer and reach an estimated reach of 5.5 million craft beer drinkers.
The campaign heroes Mountain Culture’s Status Quo Pale Ale, and sees the brand’s logo — the cockatoo — come to life.
“I’m excited to share the story of our little brewery and brand — which in a tough market is proving to be the anomaly — something I believe we are achieving by doing things differently. This campaign is a testament to that. Created, planned and produced in-house, with the same ambition of the big beer brands but for a fraction of the cost, with the help of good mates and really good beer,” said Firth told B&T.
With this campaign, Firth said the brewery is looking to grow its brand awareness with mainstream Aussie craft drinkers.
“The goal is that customers give us a try when they next see us on tap or in a can. Once they try Status Quo, their perceptions of what a beer can taste like changes,” Firth added.
“Until now, the investment in the business has been in product, systems and processes. That’s why we’re making such great beer – we’ve prioritised that. Now, we’re starting to invest more in marketing. We talk a lot about ROI and there is science behind the fun,” Firth had previously told B&T as part of our CMOs to Watch series.
“We’re looking at it across multiple channels, it’s not just making videos and hoping for the best. At Mountain Culture I am looking to meld the brand focus and customer obsession of Nike with the disruptive spirit and digital nous of Koala. We were the first brewery to have a loyalty program for example.”
The new campaign was produced entirely by Mountain Culture’s in-house team. It was shot and edited by in-house director and videographer Lachlan Paterson, and it was designed by in-house art director Mike Elliot. Brand fan Kate Burgess (aka @buzzystar) handled the photography while fellow brand fans Merrick Watts + Russ Stewart (of Russ Eats fame) handled the voiceovers.
Post-production and animation were carried out by Machine Studio while Mat Rawnsley from Tortoise Shell Comms handled the media planning.
