Situation / Driving Factors

Climate change is impacting Northern Colombia’s Cordoba region, causing unexpected, unprecedented rainfall. In 2022, over 4.9 million acres of crops were lost during rainy season, including cassava, the main ingredient of Cerveza Nativa.

Unfortunately, the traditional tools and methods small farmers use to measure and prepare for heavy rain are no match for the speed and severity of climate change. And the mountainous terrain makes weather radar almost useless.

The farmers’ inability to proactively protect their fields puts their income and their crops — including cassava — at great and continuous risk.

• Brand/Business Challenge:

Heavy rainfall caused by climate change is a near-constant threat to the cassava used to make Cerveza Nativa.

Because farmers who grow cassava make up 90% of Nativa’s sales, if the harvest gets washed away, cassava would have to be imported from other regions, raising the price of Nativa and making it unaffordable for farmers.

• Objectives

Fight the war on climate change

Strengthen farmers' crop and financial security

Ensure there's enough cassava to make Cerveza Nativa

Reinforce brand loyalty amongst the small farmers who grow Cerveza Nativa’s cassava

• Creative interpretation of the business challenge

Protecting cassava is crucial to Nativa’s business, and, farmers’ incomes.

While climate change can’t be completely reversed, farmers desperately need a solution to better anticipate the weather, and, help secure their crops.

Traditional advertising wouldn’t help. An innovative tool just might.

• Evidence of creativity in planning the approach – testing, engagement, experimentation etc

We teamed up with meteorologists, analyzing and measuring bottle geometry to ensure Nativa Meter's accuracy.

Field research with prototypes were conducted in the region.

Partnerships were created with national agricultural and meteorological agencies to establish lines of communication with farmers.

• Innovation and ingenuity in solution design, evidence of breakthrough thinking

Transforming a one-use beer bottle into a multi-use, multi-purpose rain gauge with the team of meteorologists led us to reinvent the manufacture and design of our bottles, including:

Markings on the bottle detect rainfall and groundwater levels.

Simple, redesigned labels for determining precipitation and groundwater levels.

A WhatsApp number to connect farmers with agricultural experts to share rainfall amounts and get expert farming advice.

Data is then shared with Colombia’s National Meteorology Institute to update current conditions and build a historical weather database for improved future weather forecasting.

• Creative impact for customers, employees and other stakeholders

The impact the Nativa Meter has on all parties is circular in nature:

When harvests are diminished or completely washed away by heavy rainfall, farmers can’t make a living because they have no crops to sell. And Nativa won’t have enough cassava to meet market demand, which would surely drop because farmers would drink less.

• Evidence that the initiative made a material positive difference to people’s lives / work

Today, 20,000 Nativa Meters protect 280,000 acres of farmland in the Cordoba region, with a goal of covering 50% of all Colombian farmland by the end of 2025.

The success is prompting AB InBev to share Nativa Meter’s innovations with other South American beers in their portfolio, in countries like Ecuador and Peru, whose farmers continue to struggle with the effects of heavy rainfall.

• Quality of execution of creative vision / solution in the real-world

To ensure total accuracy, the meter's measurements were calculated in direct consultation with meteorologists. The label redesign is simple and in keeping with both the aesthetic of the region, as well as the brand's existing look and feel.

• Sales

38% sales increase in the Cordoba region from March-April 2023. The initial run of 20,000 Nativa Meter bottles sold out in less than a week across the region and were put to use almost immediately.

At $0.34 USD/beer, farmers save 98% on buying a rain gauge versus retail ($18 USD). Overall net savings from the initial run of 20,000 bottles is $353,200, or roughly, the equivalent of 208 Colombian farmers’ annual incomes.

• Engagement

A 200% increase in brand interactions from March-April 2023.

• Reach

Over 280 thousand acres of Colombia’s Cordoba region is protected by the Nativa Meter, with a goal of covering 50% of all Colombian farmland in 2025 this could be certainly achieved with the 50 million bottles of Nativa that are distributed yearly in Colombia.

We are also sharing Nativa Meter’s innovation with other local crop beers in Ab InBev’s portfolio in countries whose farmers also suffer from the effects of climate change, starting with Ecuador and Peruvian beers, “Nuestra Siembra” and “Golden.”

• Achievement against business targets

75% increase in brand favorability men and women 18-55 in the northern region of Colombia

81% increase in purchase intent in the northern region of Colombia

Because Colombia’s farmers live well below the poverty line, washed out crops mean wiped out income. Being able to help protect their crops with a rain gauge for almost nothing is huge. Getting one that’s already on the bottle of something farmers already buy and drink is massive.

Lastly, uneven mountainous terrain makes the most advanced up-to-date weather radar tracking systems unable to accurately depict current and precise weather patterns. This makes the Nativa Meter’s reportage of conditions in these areas crucial to helping farmers in the region prepare for bad weather.