Matilda Bay’s award-winning Original Ale is a craft beer that had been in market for a year, but sales and retail distribution were low. With a limited budget, our brief was to create a campaign that would engage the public and trade with our beer-making credentials, ultimately driving sales, awareness and stockists.

It took the Matilda Bay brewers 27 batches to create a beer that met their master brewer’s standards. They called it the Original Ale. To promote this perfectly perfect brew, we released the almost perfect rejects. Rejected Ales, the best beers you were never meant to taste.

Original and Rejected Ales were distributed in leading bottle stores, allowing Australia to discover the journey to perfection. With names like ‘Yeah…nah’, ‘Keep dreaming’ and ‘Ballpark’, each of the 27 Rejected Ale cans tells a story of its rejection. They were brought to life in fridges, outdoor, press, film, radio and DM. Rejected Ales were then entered into beer awards, where they won silver. Fitting, given Original Ale won gold the year before.

Original Ale was ‘The Beer That No One Wanted’ — a delicious, ‘Golden Ale’, that was the exact opposite of the crowded market’s current tastes. To cut through, we zagged communication norms. Whereas most ‘craft’ beers tell stories of perfection, ours was a story of rejection. Over many a team frothy, we discovered it took Phil two years and over 27 different batches to create a beer that was ‘right’. Most craft brewers put out dozens of innovations each year, attempting to keep up with changing category tastes and fads. But not Phil. ‘It’s about the beer damnit’ was his refrain. And so it became ours too. We used this to inform a two-pronged strategy;

1. Deposition ‘trendy’ craft beer brands through Matilda Bays credentials.

2. Disrupt the buying journey to shift consumer choice in the moment that mattered most.

Both ultimately attempting to positively shift consumer and supplier relationships.

We turned Rejected Ales into a consumer facing product, emblazoning each with the story of their batch’s rejection.

The beers were distributed in leading bottle stores across Australia with a retail promotion that gave away free Rejected Ales with any purchase of Original Ale.

A Rejected Ales sample pack including a brewer’s log, was sent to journalists and influencers, encouraging in-depth coverage.

Press ads, street posters, radio and online ads further told the stories of our journey to perfection, driving people in-store and online.

Original Ale sales up 11x.

Stockists up 17%,

+14million media impressions in the first two weeks.

1 satisfied Master Brewer.