The Co-operative Food: Broadcasting Britains Real Ale Renaissance

Working closely with the UKs leading convenience retailer – The Co-operative – markettiers delivered over 200 items of broadcast coverage to help chart the renaissance of real-ale and the new-found importance of local brews as the store announced a new deal to stock locally-sourced ales in every region of the UK.

Carefully crafted research – undertaken by our in-house research agency, Opinion Matters – revealed the seismic shift in the nation’s taste buds away from generic fizzy lagers towards altogether more authentic and sophisticated flavours, while demonstrating that real ale is no longer the preserve of ‘old men’.

We advised on aligning with the Society of Independent Brewers to lend the story maximum editorial independence, while sourcing a household name with ‘hipster’ appeal, comedian Rufus Hound, to extend the reach across consumer programming and add humour and social-media impact through a tongue-in-cheek ‘History of Real Ale’ video feature. 

Finally, to provide local audiences with an authentic local voice we worked with the Co-op’s newly announced ‘real-ale’ suppliers, namely independent and artisan breweries from up and down the country, while the brand voice was delivered by the Co-op’s beer taster Joe Turner

The campaign received outstanding levels of media pick-up across online, TV and radio outlets, totalling 223 items of broadcast coverage. Top-tier coverage included interviews with top tier outlets such as Sky Sunrise, BBC Scotland, Capital London, Jazz FM, Sky News Radio, national newspaper websites and Press Association.