There aren’t too many branded products that could come across as fundamentally wrong as an automotive brand lending its name to a beer.
Yet DDB Argentina did just that with a branded beer for Volkswagen in Buenos Aires. The catch? VW Beer is non-alcoholic and was crafted as a way to combat drunk driving in the country.
Volkswagen noticed that car accident rates in Argentina had grown over 25% since 2017, with alcohol being a factor in more than half of those cases and felt a responsibility to discuss the issue as a leading auto brand in the country. Rather than a traditional PSA campaign, it decided to enlist its agency of record for a more unconventional approach.
DDB Argentina settled on the idea of a branded non-alcoholic VW Beer, which was then given out to drivers at bars so that they could enjoy a beer with friends and still serve as the designated driver.
Via email, DDB Argentina chief creative officers Adrian Piattoni and Facundo Varela explained that the campaign aimed to communicate the “Drive Responsibly” message and, creating a beer in order so that “users are responsible when they drive without losing the fun of spending a moment with their friends.”
The agency teamed up with local brewery Barba Roja to craft a beer that contained no alcohol. While most “non-alcoholic” beers still contain alcohol to some degree, the agency wanted to ensure that a beer with the Volkswagen logo on it contained absolutely no alcohol.
That’s a challenging proposition for a brewery, and it proved a process of trial and error. The first attempt came out “very fruity,” the CCOs said, while the second was “very bitter” and the third batch finally arrived at the desired flavor profile.
While the agency expressed ambitions to make VW Beer a regular offering, logistical challenges may prevent such an endeavor.
“We evaluated the possibility and found…many restrictions in the market during this process,” Piattoni and Varela said. “At last, this is not going to be possible since local regulations are very complicated. As a special event we did not have many restrictions. It is very different when it comes to doing it as a long term option.”
Still, the agency would like to expand the campaign to other markets, should there prove interest in the initiative.