Branded Entertainment in Belgium is mostly know as TV formats. TV stations that cooperate with advertisers to bring their products to a specific audience. But unfortunately in all other media it is hardly known or executed. This case brings a good example of bringing branded entertainment through radio advertising. It helped position Grimbergen as the ideal beer to enjoy with a good read, ticking off all the cases in the list of brand values.

In order to reinvigorate the brand, we decided to bring the story of the abbey to life, but in a contemporary context. A turbulent history that reads like a novel led to the idea to tell the brand’s story in the form of a mystery novel.

In total, 240,000 books were distributed. In a small country like Belgium, where 25,000 sold copies is considered a bestseller, this is enormous. The radio play was a huge stimulus, both for the brand awareness and the sales results. And the free publicity around our mystery writer surpassed manifold the value of the total media investments.

But most important: it helped position Grimbergen as the ideal beer to enjoy with a good read, ticking off all the cases in the list of brand values. This was, and still is, the long term objective.