Wainwright Golden Ale: Find your mountain

Named after the famous Lakeland fell walker, Alfred Wainwright, Marston’s acquired the Wainwright brand when they took over the Thwaites Brewery.

Our task was to expand its appeal beyond the heartland cloth cap and pipe smoking walking enthusiast. The question was how do we appeal to a younger ale drinker who may never have been to the Lake District or heard of Alfred Wainwright.

We needed to find a memorable new telling of the Wainwright story, true to its roots but relevant to a contemporary beer drinker. Our response was to dig in to the truth of the brand, and focus less on who Alfred Wainwright was, and more on the way he embraced life’s challenges with an indomitable spirit.

From print advertising, to web site, social and POS, Big Al’s developed an integrated multi-channel campaign around the creative platform, Find Your Mountain.

By positioning Wainwright as a reward for personal endeavour we have succeeded in giving the brand an appeal that connects emotionally with a broader, younger audience.

The results speak for themselves: at the time of writing, some 8 months after the launch of the Find Your Mountain campaign, sales are up 61% year on year (compared with a 2.8% growth in the premium ale market); and the brand has picked up best campaign of 2016 award at the prestigious Grocer awards.