Stella Artois, announced its #PouritForward campaign in collaboration with Co-op for World Water Day, continuing the premium beer brand’s partnership with Water.org.
884 million people lack access to clean drinking water. Every day, millions of people in the developing world spend up to six hours collecting it – taking valuable time away from work, school and caring for families. Stella Artois first partnered with Water.org in 2015 and has so far raised over $21 million to help provide access to clean water for more than 1.7 million people in the developing world.
Building on their ongoing collaboration, in 2017 Stella Artois and Water.org confirmed a further four-year partnership, which sees them working together to help provide 3.5 million people with long-term, sustainable access to clean water by 2020.
To launch this year’s Pour it Forward campaign, a play on ‘pay it forward’, Stella Artois sold limited-edition packs* across retailers for the month of February, ensuring that for every pack sold, a month of clean water is provided to a person in the developing world. For the remainder of 2019, Stella Artois is working exclusively with Co-op to help achieve its goal. Using the same donation mechanic, for every limited-edition pack of 3x300ml Stella Artois sold at Co-op until the end of the year, a month of clean water will be provided to a person in need.
Elevating the limited-edition packaging and supporting the initiative further, Stella Artois and Co-op will be showcasing in-store point of sale materials and digital advertising assets to drive both awareness of the activity and sales of Stella Artois, and therefore donations to Water.org.
In-store support will look to create theatre across Co-op stores and tell the story of water poverty throughout the world to the retailer’s customers and members. It will showcase to regular and new Co-op customers that Stella Artois is aligning authentically to their ideals, helping to drive a positive reputation; research shows that 70% of millennial shoppers consider a brand’s ethics and values when making a purchase. Creating a wider positive outcome to purchasing Stella Artois will help boost sales and raise awareness of the campaign objectives.
#PourItForward
To drive mass awareness for #PourItForward, Water.org ambassador, Matt Damon, will ignite a movement through a social challenge. Matt will ask key figureheads at Co-op to accept the #PourItForward challenge. Once accepted, the individual highlights how they poured it forward – by enjoying a limited-edition Stella Artois – and challenges their own connections. A movement is born.
CJ Antal Smith, Director of Trading for Ambient and BWS at Co-op, says, “We’re committed to alleviating water poverty and we have spent the last 12 years investing in clean water, sanitation and hygiene projects across Africa, and we donate £2 million a year to clean water projects. #PourItForward with Stella Artois and Water.org felt like a natural partnership and a great opportunity for us to continue supporting the cause.
The campaign provides a tangible and easy way for us to contribute to ending the global water crisis – the on-pack donation mechanic means that by simply selling a pack of Stella Artois, we’re helping to support the cause.”
Alexis Berger, Marketing Director at Stella Artois, adds, “We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to date, helping 1.7 million people in need gain access to safe water. But there is still more to be done and we strongly believe that, together with Co-op, we can play a key part in helping address the issue. #PourItForward is our way of raising awareness of the lack of clean water for 884 million people, and asking consumers to support the cause in a way that is easy and uncomplicated for them.
We’re delighted to be celebrating #PourItForward with Co-op, as its passion for clean water is so aligned to our own. We look forward to providing more people in the developing world with access to clean, safe water.”
