You are a centuries-old, independent brewer with an authentic history and unique story, still brewing with the same four ingredients the way you always have, and only ever in the same place. How do you bring the fight to an emerging and agile craft market while demonstrating your many differences to the mega-brewing corporations above them?

How do you get in front of new, younger audiences, get your beer in hands and in bars and address that elephant in the room: an antithetical brewer that *shares* half your name?

Through a blend of creative strategy, content and targeted marketing, UNTOLD transformed Budweiser Budvar from a brand on hold for more than a decade into the world’s best beer marketer and the top export lager of the Czech Republic in the UK.

Via broadcast-quality films and magazine-style features, UNTOLD rooted the brand in its homeland, creating the site CZECH STORIES. Across themes like Food / Recipes (How To Make The Perfect Brewer’s Goulash); Travel (Bohemian Rhapsody: Exploring South Bohemia on the Ultimate 72-hour Road Trip); Culture (Behind The Mask: 700 Years of Carnival in the Czech Republic) and Beer and Brewing, UNTOLD showcased the unique and fascinating stories of Budvar’s history, brewing craft (The Man Who Makes Beer) in context, with the aim of weaving the brand - the national brewery of the Czech Republic - with the wider stories of the country, culture and its people in beer drinker’s minds.

Untapped potential

Realising the untapped potential in Budvar’s adherence to craft and ingredients, Budvar’s refusal to compromise and wanting to further flag Budvar as a vintage Czech brand, UNTOLD took Budvar’s story to another level with TRUE BOHEMIANS in 2018. A bold and market-leading partnership between Budvar and BOLT Motorcycles in East London, the campaign documented the custom transformation of a vintage Czech motorcycle into The Budvar Bike. Because perfection always takes the long road.

Inspired by a visit to the brewery in Budweis, the bike’s design drew on the centuries-old brewing processes of Budvar and wove in cues from Budvar’s heritage and story, such as hand-painted vintage logos and hand-tooled whole-cone hop leatherwork.

Breaking performance records

As well as capturing the story of the build and the craftsmen, TRUE BOHEMIANS was the story of the epic, challenging, six-day road trip with the bike builders and a group of motorcycle influencers to take the The Budvar Bike to the brewery in Budweis, South Bohemia. Budweis or Bust broke all brand records in terms of outreach and marketing - from a double-page spread in The Guardian travel section to reaching millions with previously unimaginable social results, coverage, engagement, advocacy and even trade listings in bars and restaurants, directly driving significant revenue.