| Title | CAFÉ SOLIDAIRE |
| Brand | ALKEN MAES |
| Product/Service | BELGIAN BEER BREWERY |
| Category |
B03. Social Business & Commerce |
|
Entrant
|
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Brussels, BELGIUM
|
|
Idea Creation
|
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Brussels, BELGIUM
|
|
Idea Creation 2
|
ALKEN-MAES Mechelen, BELGIUM
|
|
Production
|
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Brussels, BELGIUM
|
|
Production 2
|
ALKEN-MAES Mechelen, BELGIUM
|
Credits
| Toon Diependaele |
Wunderman Thompson |
Managing Director |
| Nadège Witkowski |
Wunderman Thompson |
Account Manager |
| Klaas Van den brande |
Wunderman Thompson |
Head of Digital operations |
| Dennis Snijders |
Wunderman Thompson |
Strategic Director |
| Olivier Verhellen |
Wunderman Thompson |
Social creative |
| Dieneke Van Gerrewey |
Wunderman Thompson |
Social copywriter |
| Annelies Schrevens |
Wunderman Thompson |
Community Manager |
| Jeroen Michiels |
Wunderman Thompson |
UX/UI lead |
| Arnout Deville |
Wunderman Thompson |
Chief Technology officer |
| Jesse Debruyckere |
Wunderman Thompson |
Web developer |
| Bram Verdyck |
Wunderman Thompson |
Web developer |
| Giele Cools |
Wunderman Thompson |
Web developer |
| Veerle Struyf |
Wunderman Thompson |
Web developer |
| Thijs ter Haar |
Wunderman Thompson |
UX/UI designer |
| Jorg Meyer |
Wunderman Thompson |
UX/UI designer |
| Matthias Berghmans |
Wunderman Thompson |
Design Director |
| Kenny Smet |
Wunderman Thompson |
Brand designer |
| Dorien Wendelen |
Wunderman Thompson |
Designer |
Background
To slow the spread of Covid-19, many countries declared a state of emergency, forcing most businesses in the hospitality industry to close. For bars this meant a full stop to their business, with no way to create income. Many of these businesses are small, private enterprises, with an estimated average cash buffer of only 20 days. Weeks of closure, and a full stop to their cashflow, would have far-reaching consequences.
Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)
Café Solidair is a campaign / e-commerce platform using the “pay it forward” principle: you pay in advance via the platform at your usual bar for your future Maes for a fixed price of 2.5€/beer, which you will drink once bars are back open. Giving the owners extra financial resources during the lockdown. People or owners could enter their bar on the platform and start sharing the campaign on social media. This way the campaign was spread organically on the social media accounts of bars and of bar lovers alike.
Making sure your favourite place on earth survives. Alken Maes also offered extra support by paying for the first pre-ordered 400 beers.
Describe the strategy (20% of vote)
To help the horeca sector, we had to come up with an idea that would achieve two main goals:
BUSINESS CONTINUITY
Driving actual sales for the bars to help decrease potential long-term problems: making sure the sales volume of Alken Maes stays on par, and preventing potential bankruptcies.
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Anxiety on the future drove bar owners to turn to Alken Maes for financial help; asking for an extension or even full remittance of payment. Their logic: big company, deep pockets. Not responding to this might upset owners. We needed to prove to them that Alken Maes is supportive and helpful to its patrons.
Describe the execution (20% of vote)
Café Solidair is a campaign / e-commerce platform using the “pay it forward” principle: you pay in advance via the platform at your usual bar for your future Maes for a fixed price of 2.5€/beer, which you will drink once bars are back open. Giving the owners extra financial resources during the lockdown. People or owners could enter their bar on the platform and start sharing the campaign on social media. This way the campaign was spread organically on the social media accounts of bars and of bar lovers alike.
Making sure your favourite place on earth survives. Alken Maes also offered extra support by paying for the first pre-ordered 400 beers.
List the results (30% of vote)
The majority of the leading Belgian press covered the launch of the
campaign. We reached over 30 million through social media, national and
nternational press.
74% of the participating bars saw an increase in revenue, a number of those up to 28% more revenue!
Due to the succes, other brewers like Inbev quickly followed
The campaign has, almost exclusively, driven positive sentiment on social. This is due to the strategic decision to have communication driven by the bars themselves on their own social media channels, and not topdown via Alken Maes. Not communicating in a commercial branded way was essential for this result.