DB Export has always been a beer that had led the way in New Zealand – the creative platform that this work was operating under was ‘DB Export – Made By Doing’ which celebrates the pioneering history of both the beer and also its founder, Morton Coutts.

Our idea was to turn drinking beer into a selfless act of environmental heroism. So we took the surplus yeast leftover after we finished brewing DB Export, and used it to create a biofuel called DB Export Brewtroleum. Brewtroleum emits 8% less carbon than traditional petroleum, so every time a man drinks DB Export, he’s helping to save the entire world.

To launch the idea we completely rebranded an existing petrol station in downtown Auckland. From the street sign right through to the pumps, no detail was overlooked. The station was opened by the Government’s environmental minister and resulted in kilometre long traffic jams across the city.

Supported by an integrated campaign to drive awareness, Brewtroleum was rolled out to 62 Gull petrol stations across New Zealand for 6 weeks, allowing nearly all New Zealanders the opportunity to fill their cars with Brewtroleum. Every day for six weeks, a fully branded super tanker travelled the country delivering Brewtroleum to 62 stations, where it sold for $2.05 a litre.

We inserted in-pack vouchers for $5 off Brewtroleum fill ups and when they toped their car up, they received a discount voucher for DB Export Beer. This created a virtuous circle between pump and product, ensuring our supply of Brewtroleum never ran dry.

The most important result of this campaign was simple. In a beer market declining at 6% per anum, sales of DB Export grew by an unprecedented 10% making it the fastest growing beer brand in the country.

58,000 tonnes of yeast slurry was turned into 300,000 litres of Brewtroleum allowing it to be sold on pump at 62 stations around the country. This meant that in essence, the nation was essentially paying $2.05/litre for our promotional product.

During the campaign period 8.6 million bottles of DB Export were sold.

The campaign resulted in a 50,000kg reduction in carbon emissions, and DB Breweries went on to win the nation’s highest sustainability award - the ‘Renewable Innovation Award’.

Heineken are now rolling the idea out through 50 of their biggest global breweries, potentially saving millions of tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere.