Fat Tire Serves Up
Values, and Beer
Fat Tire Serves Up Values,
and Beer
Fat Tire Serves Up
Values, and Beer
As the country’s first carbon-neutral brewery, Fat Tire, the flagship brand of New Belgium Brewing, raises the environmental bar while raising the alarm for the future of beer.
Fat Tire drinkers have an affinity for the outdoors, but connecting their cold beer to global warming is increasingly important, as hops, water, yeast, and barley, the ingredients for beer, become harder to grow and secure because of global warming.
Fat Tire drinkers have an affinity for the outdoors, but connecting their cold beer to global warming is increasingly important, as hops, water, yeast, and barley, the ingredients for beer, become harder to grow and secure because of global warming.
Fat Tire drinkers have an affinity for the outdoors, but connecting their cold beer to global warming is increasingly important, as hops, water, yeast, and barley, the ingredients for beer, become harder to grow and secure because of global warming.
The Challenge
Creating a memorable, enlightening campaign and initiative to educate consumers and lead with best practices in the industry, putting sustainability at the core of Fat Tire’s business.
Creating a memorable, enlightening campaign and initiative to educate consumers and lead with best practices in the industry, putting sustainability at the core of Fat Tire’s business.
Creating a memorable, enlightening campaign and initiative to educate consumers and lead with best practices in the industry, putting sustainability at the core of Fat Tire’s business.
The Idea:
Drink Sustainably.
A new tagline/signoff, “Drink Sustainably,” and website, DrinkSustainably.com, is a hub for Fat Tire to share best practices and become an open-source platform for carbon neutrality in the beer industry. Fat Tire hopes to inspire consumers to vote with their dollars and lower their carbon footprint to create a more sustainable future. A print, social, and retail concept rolled out on International Beer Day called “The Real Cost of Beer”, hiking prices of Fat Tire at like-minded retailers to a terrifying $100 for a six-pack (the projected 2070 price), engaging consumers with the repercussions of doing nothing about global warming now. This was supported by full-page ads featuring the headline “$100 for a Six-Pack? Get Used to It.” in The New York Times and buys on NPR, The Guardian, Facebook, and Twitter.
A new tagline/signoff, “Drink Sustainably,” and website, DrinkSustainably.com, is a hub for Fat Tire to share best practices and become an open-source platform for carbon neutrality in the beer industry. Fat Tire hopes to inspire consumers to vote with their dollars and lower their carbon footprint to create a more sustainable future. A print, social, and retail concept rolled out on International Beer Day called “The Real Cost of Beer”, hiking prices of Fat Tire at like-minded retailers to a terrifying $100 for a six-pack (the projected 2070 price), engaging consumers with the repercussions of doing nothing about global warming now. This was supported by full-page ads featuring the headline “$100 for a Six-Pack? Get Used to It.” in The New York Times and buys on NPR, The Guardian, Facebook, and Twitter.
A new tagline/signoff, “Drink Sustainably,” and website, DrinkSustainably.com, is a hub for Fat Tire to share best practices and become an open-source platform for carbon neutrality in the beer industry. Fat Tire hopes to inspire consumers to vote with their dollars and lower their carbon footprint to create a more sustainable future. A print, social, and retail concept rolled out on International Beer Day called “The Real Cost of Beer”, hiking prices of Fat Tire at like-minded retailers to a terrifying $100 for a six-pack (the projected 2070 price), engaging consumers with the repercussions of doing nothing about global warming now. This was supported by full-page ads featuring the headline “$100 for a Six-Pack? Get Used to It.” in The New York Times and buys on NPR, The Guardian, Facebook, and Twitter.
The website does a thorough job explaining climate issues and connects the dots for consumers. Fat Tire’s CEO puts an editorial stake in the ground, and the company launches projects in renewable energy and agriculture. Consumers engage with multiple pathways to lowering their own carbon footprints.
The website does a thorough job explaining climate issues and connects the dots for consumers. Fat Tire’s CEO puts an editorial stake in the ground, and the company launches projects in renewable energy and agriculture. Consumers engage with multiple pathways to lowering their own carbon footprints.
The website does a thorough job explaining climate issues and connects the dots for consumers. Fat Tire’s CEO puts an editorial stake in the ground, and the company launches projects in renewable energy and agriculture. Consumers engage with multiple pathways to lowering their own carbon footprints.
Site implemented by Consume & Create
Full-page New York Times ad
The work received great coverage in AdAge, Creativity, Adweek, Muse, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, and many others.
This work sets up Fat Tire to be a leader for carbon neutrality in the beer industry and to share best practices, not only with colleagues but with consumers who vote on issues with their dollars.
Sales
+9% growth YOY
in off-premise
Facebook/Instagram:
17.4MM+
impressions
8.7MM+
users reached
43.6k+
link clicks (0.25% overall CTR -
traffic campaign has 0.66% CTR)
Twitter:
688k+
impressions
18.9k+
engagements
8.5k+
link clicks (1.24% CTR)
Earned Media Snapshot:
32
total placements
62.4MM+
total impressions
Drink Sustainably
Phase Two
On Earth Day, Fat Tire released Torched Earth Ale, a beer made with smoke-tainted water, dandelions, and drought-resistant grains—some of the less-than-ideal ingredients that would be available and affordable to brewers in a climate-ravaged future without aggressive action now to confront the climate crisis. The resulting dark starchy liquid with smoky aromatics highlights the stakes of climate change for beer lovers everywhere.
On Earth Day, Fat Tire released Torched Earth Ale, a beer made with smoke-tainted water, dandelions, and drought-resistant grains—some of the less-than-ideal ingredients that would be available and affordable to brewers in a climate-ravaged future without aggressive action now to confront the climate crisis. The resulting dark starchy liquid with smoky aromatics highlights the stakes of climate change for beer lovers everywhere.
On Earth Day, Fat Tire released Torched Earth Ale, a beer made with smoke-tainted water, dandelions, and drought-resistant grains—some of the less-than-ideal ingredients that would be available and affordable to brewers in a climate-ravaged future without aggressive action now to confront the climate crisis. The resulting dark starchy liquid with smoky aromatics highlights the stakes of climate change for beer lovers everywhere.
Illustration by Kelly Malka, a first-generation Moroccan immigrant.
Digital Activation
In addition, Fat Tire launched a sustained campaign asking beer drinkers to make a “Last Call for Climate” by demanding their favorite brands adopt 2030 climate plans. As of 2021, 70% of Fortune 500 companies lack a meaningful climate action plan (one that will help companies achieve or be well on the way to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030, the year scientists say that catastrophic climate change could be irreversible without bold action). To make it easy, Fat Tire added a seamless tool to DrinkSustainably.com allowing users to see which Fortune 500 companies have plans already—and which do not—and reach out directly to those that don’t.
In addition, Fat Tire launched a sustained campaign asking beer drinkers to make a “Last Call for Climate” by demanding their favorite brands adopt 2030 climate plans. As of 2021, 70% of Fortune 500 companies lack a meaningful climate action plan (one that will help companies achieve or be well on the way to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030, the year scientists say that catastrophic climate change could be irreversible without bold action). To make it easy, Fat Tire added a seamless tool to DrinkSustainably.com allowing users to see which Fortune 500 companies have plans already—and which do not—and reach out directly to those that don’t.
In addition, Fat Tire launched a sustained campaign asking beer drinkers to make a “Last Call for Climate” by demanding their favorite brands adopt 2030 climate plans. As of 2021, 70% of Fortune 500 companies lack a meaningful climate action plan (one that will help companies achieve or be well on the way to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030, the year scientists say that catastrophic climate change could be irreversible without bold action). To make it easy, Fat Tire added a seamless tool to DrinkSustainably.com allowing users to see which Fortune 500 companies have plans already—and which do not—and reach out directly to those that don’t.
New DrinkSustainably.com
In Q2 2021, Fat Tire had its best quarterly sales performance in many years.
Earned Media snapshot:
142
total placements
58MM+
impressions
1,534
shares
New visitors to drinksustainably.com
297,480
since launch of Torched Earth
“The Red & Co. team helped us
take something that was really
important to us as a company
(carbon neutrality) and made it
really important to beer drinkers
more broadly. They truly lead with
big ideas and look to drive impact,
all while keeping the humanity of a
brand front and center.”
“The Red & Co. team helped us take something that
was really important to us as a company (carbon
neutrality) and made it really important to beer
drinkers more broadly. They truly lead with big
ideas and look to drive impact, all while keeping the
humanity of a brand front and center.”
“The Red & Co. team helped us take something that
was really important to us as a company (carbon
neutrality) and made it really important to beer
drinkers more broadly. They truly lead with big
ideas and look to drive impact, all while keeping the
humanity of a brand front and center.”
— Shaun Belongie, VP/Head of
Marketing at New Belgium Brewing
— Shaun Belongie, VP/Head of
Marketing at New Belgium Brewing
— Shaun Belongie, VP/Head of Marketing at
New Belgium Brewing
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