IN A CATEGORY OF PRETENDERS,
LOOK FOR THE LABEL
Challenge
Give the real Spanish beer a bigger voice.
Spanish lager was booming in Britain. Trouble was, plenty of it wasn’t particularly Spanish. Many of the category’s biggest brands were brewed under licence in the UK, despite names and advertising suggesting sunnier origins.
Estrella Galicia was different: family-owned, brewed in Galicia since 1906 and imported to the UK. With larger competitors spending heavily, the client’s challenge was to make that authenticity matter to premium beer drinkers—and give a relatively small challenger some serious presence. Research showed that 80% of premium beer drinkers valued authenticity and were prepared to pay more for a genuine Spanish import.
Solution
Call out the beers that were Spanish in name only.
We created Spanish, Not Span-ish: a challenger platform that proudly separated the genuinely Spanish from the vaguely Mediterranean.
Bold outdoor lines including Fake Brews and No Bull called out the category’s noisy pretenders, while encouraging drinkers to check the label and see where their beer was actually made.
The idea ran across high-impact outdoor, national radio and social. Even the radio joined in, introducing Carl from Crewe—not Carlos from A Coruña. Same lager aisle. Rather different provenance.
Results
Proper Spanish. Proper impact.
The campaign reached 21 million people through outdoor, increased clicks to the brand’s “Where to Find Us” page by 211% and lifted engagements by 220%.
It also generated 64 pieces of media coverage, including 18 national hits, with the brand featured in 98% of the coverage. Not bad for asking people to read the label.
21m
Outdoor reach
2
New listings in major supermarkets off the back of the campaign
211%
Increase in “where to find us” website clicks
Awards
The pretenders got the message.
It also picked up Silver at the 2024 FAB Awards for Alcoholic Drinks Outdoor and was shortlisted at the 2025 PRmoment Awards.
Credits
Agency
Southpaw
CD
Glenn Smith
ACD
Andy Peel
Creatives
Andy Peel
Jonny Palmer
Chris Rush
Digital Editor
Adam Wharton
Retoucher & Artwork
Scott Wackett
© 2009–26 Andy Peel