Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 17.06.2024 
“This campaign was one of our favourites in the history of the agency. It was simply a pleasure to work on it. We learned a lot diving into the real stories of these three inspiring women, and we all had a lot of fun doing it. What more do you want? Some of the locations like Mikulov were new to us and so beautiful. The London event especially we were very proud of, it felt like a bit of a moment where the crowd came for the food and the beer but left with something very real to think about. The kind of campaign we set UNTOLD up to do. Thanks to Budvar for trusting us. Johana, Jitka and Magda for being the stars you are.”
In 2023 UNTOLD launched the Great Beer. For Everyone campaign for Budweiser Budvar. As the global agency of the national brewery of the Czech Republic, we’ve been creating and running award-winning, sales-driving campaigns for them for ten years, but we’re always looking for new ways to tell the stories of this lager-loving country, and to show consumers why real lager matters in a world where it’s harder to find.
As frequent visitors to the Czech Republic, our team had always been impressed by the ways in which women played their part in the beer culture there, whether brewing, pouring or drinking. With Great Beer. For Everyone, we wanted to show the world that there should be no barriers to what has sometimes been a male-dominated profession. As Johana Potužníková, head of craft partnerships at Budvar, told us: “Women were behind the scenes, but still there – now, you can see more women brewing beer and doing the important stuff, because they want to and they can.”
At the core of the campaign was a beautifully crafted documentary-style film telling the stories of three women in Czech beer: Johana herself; Magda Hoppova, lead beertender at Pult, a bar in Prague; and Jitka Ilčíková, founder of Wild Creatures, the country’s only brewery focusing on spontaneously fermented beers. This cinematic and innovative film engaged viewers worldwide, gathering 5.2m combined views and an exceptional 62% watch-through rate across platforms – over double the sector average.
We launched the film with an event in London, which saw the stars of the film travelling over from the Czech Republic to join a panel discussion on women in brewing chaired by Claire Bullen, editor in chief of Good Beer Hunting. A handpicked selection of guests, including prominent figures in the UK beer industry, journalists and influencers, enjoyed never-before-seen Czech beer, perfectly poured by Budvar ambassadors, and food pairings from chef Freddie Janssen.
This was followed by a six-week social media campaign, using Reels to introduce a new audience to the women in the film, and static posts that brought home the core message of the campaign – that in the Czech Republic, great beer really is for everyone.
This dynamic social approach led to a reach of over 30m and staggering engagement rates 20x the industry average at 22% – testament to the campaign’s power to captivate its viewers as active participants in an increasingly ‘swipe-left’ culture.
To extend the reach even further, we organised press trips for British and German media, giving them the chance to experience the stories told in the film firsthand, and see a side of the Czech Republic beyond the familiar attractions of Prague. Over three days we visited the Budvar brewery in South Bohemia, traditional pubs and modern beer bars, and the trailblazing Wild Creatures, near the Austrian border, to taste Wild Creatures sour beer amid the vineyards of Moravia. This resulted in over 100 media placements in influential outlets like Forbes, Stylist and Foodism.
- A fulfilling, thought-provoking and engaging story leading to 5.2 million cross-platform video views
- Over 50% watch-through of the whole six-minute film
- One film in four languages and three visual identities
- A combined online reach of over 128 million
- A combined 40 bespoke posts for Budvar across different territories, including influencer coverage, resulting in 1.4 million combined social media reach
- 22% social engagement (20x the industry average)
You can watch the full Great Beer. For Everyone film here: https://youtu.be/cNqvxJBG2MU?si=6w698IgZKoTsIizR
You can see more of our work on our Instagram, @untold.agency and our LinkedIn profile.
