—He’s no fan of beer, but Craig Redmond is a fan of beer advertising. And he calls the new work for Camden Town Brewery one of the “best loss leader ideas” he can remember.—

I’m not a beer drinker. No one can attest to that better than my kid, who once no doubt died a little inside when she ordered a flight of tasters at our Mill St. Brewery lunch, while I asked if they had a nice Pinot Gris.

I do love beer advertising, however. Especially when it’s fresh.

Like the “Fresh as Hells” work for Camden Town Brewery in the U.K. It brews unpasteurized beer, which apparently tastes better because it’s fresh. Who knew?

That claim is proudly featured in their advertising, with a quirky cast of animated characters who champion the rights of the common beer guzzler—unlike the big brewing behemoths who shamelessly boil their beer and do the people wrong.

I first noticed the Camden work at the beginning of the 2020 lockdown, when it comforted customers by offering them free beer using a QR Code on TV. Viewers had to chase the code around the screen with their phone in a game of cat and mouse the brewer called “the first telly ad you can drink.”

This time around, it has created one of the best loss-leader ideas in recent memory. It started a recall campaign for its own beer, stashing a few “pasteurization contaminated” cans in random cases around the country and promising a year’s supply of free suds to the lucky (unlucky) ones who find it.

It’s like a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket treasure hunt for what the Camden Brewers would describe as pasteurized piss.

Of course, being the beer neophyte I am, I wouldn’t know the Louis Pasteur difference. But I sure know a good promotion when I see it. And this one’s going to have a lot of Camden connoisseurs buying more than a few cases of Hells Lager.

Because this truly is Fresh as Hells.