Helpy Hour
FedCaf
Issue 56 | September 2020
Agency
Happiness, an FCB Alliance
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Geoffrey Hantson Creative Director Katrien Bottez Content Creative Director Kenny Vermeulen Creatives Roxane Schneider, Pieter Claeys
Production Team
Digital PM Julie Post Digital team Bliss
Other Credits
Executive Creative Management Karen Corrigan Strategic planner Wesley Roeland Account Manager Arthur Dewachter
Date
June 2020
Background
Beer is important to Belgians, so much so the country’s beer culture has been registered by UNESCO as an important, intangible cultural heritage. As bars and restaurants prepared to reopen after two and a half months of lockdown, the new measures to protect both staff and customers were draconian. President of FedCaf, Diane Delen, said it would reduce attendance in bars by two-thirds. Half of Belgium’s 12,000 café/bars faced closure.
Idea
Helpy Hour was an initiative that urged Belgian beer lovers to visit their local and buy one drink for the price of two in support of their favourite bars. It was intended as a temporary measure to help avoid an avalanche of bankruptcies before happier days with Happy Hours might return.
Results
The Helpy Hour concept was launched in early June and instantly got media attention both inside Belgium and beyond. The idea led to over 3.2 billion impressions and over eight million euros in earned media. But back to Belgium: in total there were over one million unique website visits. Over 9,000 bars engaged and downloaded the Helpy Hour poster to promote the initiative in their bar.
Our Thoughts
Many pubs and cafés provide the beating heart of a neighbourhood. Without them, you just have a district marked on a map.
Like all brilliant ideas this is ridiculously simple. No more than a reversal of normal behaviour, making drinks more expensive, it invites local people to be part of the solution while gently pointing out what it is they might lose – their community.