XXXX Beer is Queensland’s favourite beer, and pledged to protect and invest in the health of Queensland’s waterways to protect the good life. One thing that threatens this is Carp - An invasive fish species breeding uncontrollably in waterways. Putting native fish at risk, and destroying aquatic vegetation- pivotal to keeping the waterways clean. In 2014 they were added to the Biosecurity Act as a noxious fish - encouraging anglers to cull carp by making it illegal to return a Carp back into the water once caught. Our idea turns every XXXX Beer can into a lure.

XXXX has been Queensland’s favourite beer for 145 years and is committed to protecting and investing in the health of QLD waterways, including a current three-year partnership with the Great Barrier Reef foundation to help innovative agricultural practices aimed at improving water quality flowing to the Reef. This includes funding for farmers to automate 600ha of irrigation in the Burdekin region, allowing precise amounts of water to be applied at optimum times, reducing runoff into the ocean.

But there is something else affecting the waterways in Queensland - Carp. An invasive fish species that are breeding uncontrollably and are destroying aquatic vegetation that’s pivotal to keeping the waterways clean and helping to purify agricultural runoff. In 2014 they were added to the Biosecurity Act as a noxious fish.

Our brief: Encourage XXXX drinkers to help protect the waterways, by raising awareness of the problem, and aid in a solution.

Carp are opportunistic feeders, but are specifically attracted to yellow and red, so we turned cans of XXXX Beer into lures, and an invitation to fish. We did this by repurposing the XXXX GOLD can, taking the 145 year old logo and adding a carp attracting lure outline through the middle of it. The can was branded XXXX LURE instead of the classic XXXX GOLD, and simple instructions added to the front. On the reverse of the can we gave more context around the Carp problem, and how the consumer could help. Queenslanders could scan the can to see an instructional video showing them how to make the lure, as well as giving them a live map of Carp fishing spots around Queensland.

According to the Queensland Recreational Fishing Survey, approximately 642,000 Queenslanders, are recreational fishers. Also, fishing participation is found to be higher in less urbanised regions which is where most Carp are located.

These recreational fishers make up the majority of our target audience. Our approach was to launch the cans in these specific regions with a strong call to action: ‘Give a XXXX Queensland’. This was followed by simple instructions and a short paragraph on the side of the can detailing that they hold the solution in their hands and encouraging them to fish for Carp.

In Queensland, Carp breeding season is between September- December and each fish can spawn up to 1.5 million eggs. To try and reduce this uncontrollable breeding our campaign launched in April - encouraging people to catch a carp before peak breeding season. We created thousands of XXXX Lure cans and released them into bottle stores within close proximity to waterways that have been found to have Carp in them. Promoting the cans at point of sale - exactly as our audience were potentially on their way to fish.

The targeted campaign reached along all key waterways where Carp are present, and was promoted through multiple social media fishing influencers from Queensland, as well as fishing blogs.

This project builds upon the existing achievements of Queensland farmers and the broader Great Barrier Reef Foundation to improve water quality. Encouraging thousands of Queensland fishers to target Carp as a pest fish in the area, and increasing awareness of the detrimental effects Carp can have on the fragile ecosystem as a whole. Carp are considered a game fish which makes them fun to catch so by increasing awareness and encouraging people to catch carp it will likely make them want to do it again and again. The competitive nature of fishing has also meant that people are trying to out do others on size, and amount of fish caught. The project launched in April, and XXXX are planning on releasing more cans to the public in the next few months - stretching to even more local waterway bottle stores in Queensland.

Queenslanders love a beer by the waterways. They fish, dive, waterski, boat, camp and holiday in and around water. The fact that the purity and health of the waterways and the good life they enjoy is under threat makes this extremely important for people living in Queensland.