When Mountain Culture Beer Co. decided to switch off every paid channel except Out of Home during Dry July, it wasn’t a gamble, it was a calculated experiment that delivered record growth and emboldened the brand’s marketing strategy.
“No, I don’t think it was brave, to be candid,” said Mountain Culture’s Chief Marking Officer, Brad Firth, when asked if he thought the move was a courageous one.
“We’re a pretty nimble, independent brand, so we can basically experiment and learn from it. The idea of investing in a single channel and working out what it does for us felt like a no-brainer.”
For four weeks, during the period of Dry July, when many abstain from alcohol, the brand appeared exclusively across oOh!media’s street furniture, rail, office and retail formats.
The results were striking. Brand awareness lifted 9%, consideration rose 15%, usage increased 20% and preference jumped 33%. In Victoria and New South Wales, where the campaign ran, sales surged up to 33%.
“The brand was at the right point where we were really looking to break through that ceiling and become more of a mainstream brand in Australia,” Brad said. “It felt like the right thing to do.”
Brad Firth, CMO, Mountain Culture Beer Co.
Bel Harper, Chief Product & Marketing Officer at oOh!media, described the partnership as a test of Out of Home’s full value. “We initially talked about it from a brand-building perspective, but the results pretty soon after were mind-blowing,” she said.
“Generally, brands don’t turn everything off. It’s the first time we’ve been able to really understand performance and isolate it to a channel. It was a brave manoeuvre, but it’s certainly paid off.”
The campaign also produced measurable commercial outcomes.
Online first-time customers rose 15%, with over 21% of July sales coming from new buyers, while keg volume surged to deliver Mountain Culture’s biggest month on record.
Major retailers saw the lift flow through: Dan Murphy’s up 20%, BWS up 18%, and Coles Liquor Group up 9%.
Brad said the effect reached every stage of the funnel. “I expected awareness to jump,” he said. “I was hopeful we might see something in consideration, but it was cool to see it at every layer.”
What’s more encouraging is that the results have had some long-lasting effects on the Mountain Culture business. “I didn’t expect brand preference to jump, said Firth. “And it stayed. It hasn’t dropped at all.”
He added, “What stood out was the consistency across the funnel. Every layer, from awareness through to conversion and loyalty, lifted in alignment. We weren’t just generating interest, we were driving action.”
“Obviously we’ve got the product to back it up. So, I think what we were able to do is introduce enough people to the product, and the product helped convince people that this is something that they should continue to buy.”
For Harper, the results were an interesting test case in what oOh!media can do.
“What’s unique here is that Mountain Culture turned everything else off,” she said. “That gave us true transparency into the isolated impact of OOH.
Bel Harper, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, oOh!media
“It’s the first time we’ve been able to clearly demonstrate the full-funnel strength of our network. We’ve always thought that adding formats increases ROI, now we can prove that Out of Home, as the hero channel, can do it alone.”
She added that the category itself made the results especially interesting.
“Beer and Out of Home is a bit of a match made in heaven,” Harper said. “Some months are out-of-home’s time to shine. Over summer, when other media go quiet, this is when we can do something that owns a city or creates something iconic.
“There’s so much flexibility in how you use the channel, from beaches to sporting events to retail and nightlife, it can reach 95% of an audience or drive hyper-local trial in a single postcode.”
The campaign also challenged assumptions about where and when beer brands should advertise.
“What surprised me the most was how many people noticed our ads in oOh! Office environments,” Brad said. “We’re in a category that doesn’t normally think to advertise in that space, but the ability to hit key days and times of day, with drinkers in the city, has now become a no-brainer.”
Mountain Culture ads in an office environment.
The results have developed how Mountain Culture plans its marketing. “It’s emboldened my confidence,” Brad said. “Our entire strategy for this quarter is built around that. It’s given us the confidence that we can build an entire brand plan around it.”
For oOh!media, the campaign was proof that OOH continues to evolve beyond a traditional awareness driver into a measurable, data-rich performance channel.
“This campaign demonstrates the unique strength of oOh!’s end-to-end network to deliver both scale and measurable outcomes, even in challenging trading conditions,” Harper said.
As Mountain Culture heads into summer, Brad said the brand is using those lessons to double down. “Out of Home and brand building are essential. People are in pubs and bottle shops more than ever, so for us, it’s go time.”
Harper agreed that the partnership sets a new benchmark for how brands can use simplicity and boldness to their advantage.
“Sometimes the most effective thing you can do is turn down the noise,” she said. “Mountain Culture proved that when Out of Home is the hero, it can tell a complete brand story, and drive results at every stage of the funnel.”