Second only to food and shelter, the true student survival essential is beer.
With that in mind James Ready has launched a fall promotion that rewards students with the products they may have skipped over on their way to buy brew.
The brand will be giving away student essentials like Kraft Dinner, toilet paper and laundry detergent at six “bar-tering” themed parties at popular student bars across Ontario. Attendees will play games to win James Ready bottle caps, which they can trade in for “essentials.” The first of the parties was last night in St. Catharines, Ont.
Developed by Leo Burnett and executed by Campus Intercept, the parties are designed to give back to students who have long been loyal to the discount beer brand.
“Given the price point [of James Ready], it’s positioned very much within the student market,” said Andrew Au, president of Campus Intercept.
“Campus Bar-Ter follows in the tradition of being the brand of the people,” said Judy John, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett. “We help our drinkers, they help us… Half the fun for us was coming up with ideas for stuff students really need, like toilet paper, deodorant, tube socks, mac n’ cheese, and then trying to rationalize JR bottle cap values for their redemption.
“We had more outrageous items, but had to cut them back for budgetary reasons; the fighter jet for 150 billion caps comes to mind,” said John.
The parties will be held at unofficial student bars near campuses. To promote the parties, Campus Intercept is having its team of student brand ambassadors distribute door hangers in student residences, put up flyers in student neighbourhoods and invite peers to the event’s page on Facebook.
The program will take place in six major university markets in southern Ontario including Windsor, Waterloo, Hamilton, Kingston and London.
