The LFC Red Hops Experiment
Carlsberg
Issue 45 | December 2017
Agency
CP+B Copenhagen
Creative Team
Creative Strategist Mathias Birkvad Creative Directors Kristoffer Gandsager, James Godfrey
Production Team
Director Lasse Martinussen Post Production Creative Director Jonas Dren Executive Producer Camilla Strandgard Sound Design Kevin Koch Editor Simon Borch
Other Credits
Project Manager Sofia Brockenhuus-Schack
Date
October 2017
Background
Carlsberg wanted to do something special to celebrate its 25 year-long partnership with Liverpool FC, which was effectively the longest partnership in premiership football history.
Idea
To commemorate this momentous occasion, Carlsberg decided to create a special beer that embodied the taste of a quarter century of both victory and defeat.
To do this, scientists from the Carlsberg Research Laboratory cultivated special hops in a custom-built greenhouse.
Because research had shown that plants are not affected just by light but also by sound, the hops were not just shown scenes from Liverpool's past on large LCD screens, they were also played the sounds of the screaming fans.
The hops even received encouragement from Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp, as well as Liverpool legends Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman, who visited them in Carlsberg's Copenhagen greenhouse.
Results
The innovative celebration generated buzz across football, beverage and pop culture trades alike. The special Carlsberg Liverpool FC Beer was sampled in pubs and at a Liverpool match at Anfield this fall.
Our Thoughts
After 25 years, Carlsberg have come to understand the obsessive nature of football fans everywhere, but most especially in Liverpool. Where other breweries may well have come up with a celebration ale of some sort, just slapping a label on a fairly standard bottle, Carlsberg's immoderate attention to the raw ingredients will resonate with the Liverpool faithful, I think.
Have a look at Klopp's face in the video at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VAaW7ApZNHc
Even he can't quite believe it.
The Liverpool Echo has called it "probably the best fan beer in the world" and it collected an impressive number of media impressions even before the beer itself became available at the very end of October 2017.