As the national brewery of the Czech Republic, Budweiser Budvar’s mission is to share with the world the quality and brewing provenance of Czech lager. As part of this mission, UNTOLD helped the brand launch a partnership brewing programme that saw Czech-style lagers being brewed in collaboration outside the Czech Republic. As one of the original and most outstanding craft breweries in the world, Thornbridge was an obvious first UK partner. Budvar brewmaster Adam Brož was already a fan, holding Thornbridge classics Jaipur and Lord Marples in high esteem.

Importantly, the two breweries identified shared values and an ethos summed up in Thornbridge’s motto ‘Integrity without compromise’. After the brewing of an incredible beer, Czech Mates, UNTOLD was challenged to build an identity, narrative and campaign around it. This needed to go beyond the standard industry collaboration. It had to be a powerful marketing success, but also drive commercial consideration. In short: it needed to grab attention and fly off supermarket shelves.

Czech Mates is the meeting of classic UK ingredients and Czech lager brewing heritage. The Czech method of double decoction and long, slow maturing complements the British-grown Maris Otter malt, the Goldings hops and Budvar’s decades-old yeast strain. The famously soft water of the Peak District – just like that found in České Budějovice (Budweis) – was ideal for brewing lager. Every drop of Czech Mates spends six weeks lagering in tanks in the Thornbridge brewery.

Tastings of Czech Mates drew high praise from a raft of beer reviewers, influencers and journalists, including leading experts like Roger Protz and Mark Dredge. The next step was to tell everyone about it.

We worked closely with both breweries to build out a broad campaign that would target consumers and trade buyers with powerful storytelling, operating across film, content, social, PR, advertising, experiential events and sampling.

The brewing process was documented in an engaging, 5-minute mini-documentary film. For the wider (more mass) market, UNTOLD built on the beer’s tongue-in-cheek title, creating a campaign based on the popular meme: ‘Mates Don’t Let Mates…’ UNTOLD created a series of punchy, pithy, funny ad-style reels and social posts around the line “Mates Don’t Let Mates Drink Bad Lager”, sharing them far and wide, reaching millions of people cost effectively with a well-managed paid media strategy.

The power of show don’t tell

Alongside film and social, a targeted PR campaign secured coverage in major newspapers and a full sweep of trade publications, and a bespoke influencer campaign reached beer lovers across the UK. Finally, UNTOLD planned and hosted three activation events at the Thornbridge brewery, the brand’s flagship pub in Leeds, and a venue in central London. Trade and press representatives attended for in-depth immersions featuring film screenings, exclusive brewer Q&As, tutored tastings and Czech perfect pour competitions with Budvar’s brand ambassadors. All events were oversubscribed, with a mix of buyers, brewers, bar owners and press. Once press and trade had been looked after, the doors were opened to hundreds of members of the public to get beers in hand – and huge organic coverage followed.

Overtaking competitors

This campaign has been one of the most rewarding UNTOLD has run. Through the power of great storytelling, we managed to exceed the expectations of Thornbridge and Budvar. Our results were not just metrics but resulted in tangible sales for both breweries and a platform to build on further for future ventures and collaborations.

- Significant on-trade volume from Thornbridge pub estate and many others.
- Three national supermarket listings and dozens of independents.
- 40 pieces of quality press coverage, including the Express, Sunday Express, Daily Mail, the Star, Wired and Evening Standard, as well as all major trade publications.
- 96 million online press reach.
- 6.5 million unique social reach.
- Thornbridge ‘share of search’ increased 67% across the time of the campaign.
- 1 million video views with an exceptional 72% watch-through on YouTube.
- 22 pieces of influencer coverage with over 1m combined reach and 100% positive sentiment.

Czech Mates has won a suite of awards; Winner of ‘Best Collaboration’ in the 2024 Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Independent Beer Awards, Double Platinum Award Winners in The Crushies for Best Marketing Collateral / Original Video Content and Best Use of Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Reels and Tik Tok).

The Future

Czech Mates is a great example of storytelling marketing transforming a brand. By thoroughly understanding audience, developing a strong narrative that resonates on an authentic level and using tools to create a multitude of assets and touchpoints across channels, UNTOLD created a strong, brand-changing campaign that delivered above expectation.

The primary focus was not on ‘sales’ of Czech Mates but by delving deep into what the audience were looking for and creating an iron-clad creative campaign, the sales increased and this has paved the way for more story-led campaigns across launches and collaborations for both Thornbridge and Budvar.