Who: Halifax brewer Good Robot Brewing Company and Wunder.

What: A new Instagram-based campaign inviting “micro-influencers” to spread the word about the six-year-old craft brewer’s products in exchange for cash (actually $1 per post), resulting in a series of comical ads from decidedly unpolished influencers.

When & Where: The campaign is using paid Instagram advertising to enlist “micro-influencers” (people with fewer than 10,000 followers) to post about Good Robot, with the company pledging to pay $1 for each post featuring one of its products. “Get paid to drink beer, the side hustle you’ve been waiting for,” said the company in a post introducing the promotion. There’s also a dedicated microsite at MicroInfluencer.ca.

Why: Good Robot co-founder Joshua Counsil said the campaign is a reflection of the brand’s ethos around building camaraderie. “Nobody deserves to feel lonely or alienated, and we think that alcohol is a great way to bring people together,” he said. The campaign comes as the six-year-old company expands its brewing capacity, with an eye towards a potential 10x increase in its current production within the next five years.

How: “The beer is fun and quirky and sometimes even juvenile and stupid, so we try to get our messaging to reflect those values,” said Counsil. “Advertising and marketing are a way of expressing yourself, and the truer to yourself you can be… you’re going to find your kin.”

The accompanying creative from Wunder features amateur “influencers” who are unabashed about their enthusiasm for Good Robot products. In one video, an influencer tries to talk about her favourite summer seltzer from Good Robot, only to be constantly interrupted by her mother.

In another, an influencer thanks his 100 followers, but becomes agitated when he notices that his numbers are falling. A third video opens on a shot of a carpeted floor and a man’s leg, while his unseen partner tells him that the camera is on and that he needs to flip it around.

“We’re trying to set the tone that it’s a fun thing and not to take it too seriously,” said Wunder creative director Stephen Flynn of the creative approach.

And we quote: “The reason most people don’t like marketing and advertising is because most of it tends to be vanilla and boring. For me success is talkability. If we can make the marketing as entertaining as the product itself, then we’re succeeding.” —Joshua Counsil, co-founder, Good Robot Brewing Company