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Havas scoops gold at AMASA 2017 Awards

Havas walked away with a gold award at the Advertising and Media Association of South Africa (AMASA) 2017 Awards under the Pro Bono/Cause Related category for #SheLovesBeer. The campaign was one of the two shortlisted under the category, beating Blood Lions' LoveAfrica/Wildlands campaign.
Havas scoops gold at AMASA 2017 Awards

Speaking about the win, Havas Johannesburg Chief Creative Officer Eoin Welsh said, “AMASA is a prestigious media and advertising institution that through these awards celebrates media planning and execution excellence in South Africa. To be recognised by them in this manner is a great nod to what I believe is a fantastic campaign. Kudos to the teams that worked on this, especially our Havas Media team that ensured that the campaign had the right eyeballs and traction in the media space.”

“#SheLovesBeer bravely future-casts in a category where advertising continuously relies on gender stereotypes. We flipped the script and paid homage to some incredible beer-loving women, celebrating their love for beer. With that edge, all the makings of a great campaign were passport: the concept was simple, backed by a clear insight, the storytelling execution was flawless and the cherry on top – the response from the beer community was amazing. The campaign could live anywhere, and it did – on social, in media, and in activations. It is a fantastic example of what media-agnostic content should be, and perfectly posits the future-fitness of the incredible movement,” concluded Welsh.

SheLovesBeer is a movement founded by Hayley Slater in 2016, born out of a vision to celebrate women who love beer, in a space where most beer marketing has either ignored or sexualised women. The movement uses beer as a lens to create conversations that celebrate women who are interested in the beer industry, and a safe space for beer-loving women to exist.

In 2017, Media Strategist Eve Pennington approached Slater with an idea to extend the movement’s narrative through the launch of a SheLovesBeer range of bespoke, limited edition beers. After all what, better message for the movement than the beer itself. She says of the campaign, that “it is a great example of the power of collaboration with media, creative, PR and digital all working seamlessly together to bring to life a fantastic campaign, supporting a much-needed movement.”

The campaign launched on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017, where five craft breweries were tasked to brew a beer inspired by one of five powerful beer-loving women muses. For this campaign, Havas Johannesburg came up with the concept of the medium being the message and designed the bottle labels with a twist. Each of the five custom-brewed craft beers had labels that told the story of the movement and showcased each of the muses and brews. The breweries and the women involved were:

  • Agar’s Brewery brewed the Mamphudi Summer Ale for Refilwe Motau
  • Apollo Brewing Company brewed the Two Point Five Amber Ale for Fabrizia Delgi Esposti
  • Copperlake Brewing Company brewed the Starry Eyed Blonde for Sally Hatfield
  • Drifter Brewing Company brewed the Stoked Saison for Tasha Mentasti
  • Mad Giant Brewery brewed the Free Fall Spiced Wiess for Beverly Cosslett

The custom-craft beers were sold in partnership with Beerhouse and League of Beers as collectibles and R2 off the sale of each bottle went towards a bursary aimed at creating opportunities for women in the beer industry.

Havas Johannesburg
Havas Worldwide Johannesburg thrives on creative business ideas, proudly flipping the conventional advertising agency on its head. Our specialisation is world first, creative communication, that's designed to build meaningful connections between brand and consumers.
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