We wanted to introduce people to the devastating story of our "flutwein" (flood wines). Each and every single bottle represented a unique winery, and symbolised the tragic fate of those wine-makers who were involved in the flood catastrophe.

With our creative strategy we managed to reframe the story of the flood, and created an advantage from the situation. We branded these unique mud coated bottles as "flutwein" (flood wine), staged them as key visual of the catastrophe, and sold them to raise donations – and the bottles became the symbol of optimism and hope for the whole wine region.

SITUATION/CONTEXT

Ahr Valley is one of the most distinguished red wine-growing region in Germany, called the "red wine paradise". Due to catasthrophic floods this region experienced a „living hell" in the summer of 2021. More than a month's rainfall within 24 hours devastated much of western Germany, and Ahr Valley suffered the hardest hit: homes, businesses, bridges, roads, entire communities were swept away. More than 46 wineries of the region lost their facilities, cellars, wine barrels, machinery and hectares of vineyards.

BRIEF/OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to raise awareness of this economic devastation of the region, draw attention to the financial disaster that wine-makers of Ahr Valley, and reach out to potential supporters – ideally: to the whole Germany – to raise money, give financial support to the victims, and rebuild the region.

As an unusual, extraordinary natural event, the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, Germany in 2021 cannot be compared to any competitive situations or brand's challenge. The only relevant context was the enormous, multi millions damage in the region.

And the only objective was clear and simple: to reach and activate as many people as possible to collect at least 1 million euros in donations. In addition to rebuilding the region, Ahr needed help in strengthening its economic livelihood/wine-growing, by increasing awareness of the Ahr Valley as a wine region.

We had no time for research. No time for workshops. We had to act swiftly, and tackle the problem as quickly as possible.

The breakthrough moment was when we saw the destruction and devastation the flood caused – and the remaining, some 200.000 mud-covered bottles of wines that survived the flood. That view sparked our thinking.

We also realised the powerful insight: hope activates more than concern.

Suffering and compassion are touching – however, they can cause a feeling of helplessness and paralyse people. But when it comes to getting us to act, other emotions have a stronger effect: "hope is the only feeling that motivates people to really take action.

Despite the devastating loss of the wine-makers, some 200.000 bottles of wine – soiled with mud and dirt – survived the disaster. The bottles looked impossible to sell.

However, we created a special collection of these wines, and branded them as "flutwein" (flood wines). Since they were coated in the original mud, we labelled them „authentically muddied”, and started selling them on a crowd-funding platform, dedicated to the rebuilding of the wine region.

The bottles soon became the symbol of the disaster as much as the optimism, hope, solidarity and support of the wine-growers' community of Ahr Valley.

During the 3 months of the campaign, over 47,000 people bought our 200,000 bottles. We had more than 1 billion media impressions, the value of the wine rose by 4500%.

On the first day of the crowdfunding campaign alone, 100,000 euros were donated; after the first week, the goal of 1 million euros was already reached. With ultimately over 4.4 million euros collected in only 6 weeks of funding, #flutwein raised twice as much donation as the most successful German crowdfunding campaign to date.

The campaign had a massive impact on raising awareness about the flood catastrophe of the region, and it promoted solidarity and brought help not just for the wine-growers, but for the whole Ahr Valley as well. Among those who were reached by the #flutwein campaign, the awareness of the Ahr Valley as a wine region doubled.

There's nothing cultural specific concerning this case.

A disaster is a disaster.

It has no special characteristics.

It affects people, causes pain, and needs immediate help and support –  just like the flutwein campaign contributed to helping the Ahr region.