Banrock Station wants to help save the planet, but make it fashion

Australian wine brand Banrock Station says it has been supporting environmental causes for 25 years—long before it was the trendy thing to do for brands, and greenwashing was everywhere.

So when it struck a new partnership with Tree Canada to plant trees for every bottle of Banrock Station sold, up to a total of 5,000, it asked BBR to come up with a way to stand out above the noise—to “break through the eco-clutter.”

“We’ve noticed the surge in tree-planting initiatives, but we wanted our efforts to resonate differently,” said Ming Alterman, marketing director, Americas. “We wanted Banrock Station to become the mindful, eco-conscious decision that goes beyond the ordinary.”

According to BBR, the target audience loves both wine and fashion, so the agency worked with sustainable fashion brand ecologyst to imagine a new fashion trend: ‘Tree Planter Chic.”

The agency created a look book for tree planter fashions and created two pop-up events where real Tree Planter Chic hats were handed out to attendees.

“We wanted to connect our target more closely to their impact on tree planting. So, we showed them how Banrock Station turns them into tree planters without the dirty hands,” said Julie Markle, executive creative director at BBR. “Our approach encourages people to take an active role in reforestation simply by enjoying our wine and looking the part.”

To generate awareness at points of sale, all Banrock Station wines included collectible, limited-edition, sustainably made enamel pins designed by BBR.

David Brown