Black Sheep – Drink Cask Beer, as told through a Jester Jacobs rap

Black Sheep Brewery, based in Masham, North Yorkshire, is an independent award-winning brewery that champions quality cask beer.

Since its founding in 1992, sadly the cask beer category has taken a decline in popularity. Since 2020, Black Sheep has been campaigning to reverse this trend, for the industry as a whole.

We were briefed by Black Sheep to support its Drink Cask Beer campaign by helping educate non-cask beer drinkers, and challenging the stereotypes associated with cask, in turn helping the drink appeal to a younger and more diverse audience.

The campaign formed part of a wider range of activations delivered by Prohibition in support of this cause, including:

1. Launching carbon neutral ale with “The Breathe Inn”
2. Launching Black Sheep’s first-ever major sponsorship deal with Harrogate Town A.F.C.
3. The drink cask beer video series; The renegade in the round and Black Sheep Does Mean Tweets

Create:

In order to challenge the perceptions of cask beer, we knew we needed to work with talent that would attract and catch the attention of a non-typical cask beer audience, and also tell our story in an engaging way. Our aim was to entertain and educate, not lecture our audience.

So, we commissioned comedic musician Jester Jacobs to create an original rap about the current plight of cask beer to reach the brand’s “non-typical” core audience – who are younger and more likely to engage online. Jester was already well-known for addressing complex and nuanced issues through his work, so it felt like the perfect fit.

Engage:

To highlight the partnership, our creative team created a music video to support Chester’s unique track – shot in one of Black Sheep’s pubs, Foley’s Tap House in Leeds City Centre. This would form the central piece of ‘hero’ content to drive the campaign.

The campaign was amplified through PR activity, targeting on and off trade titles, as well as regional media. A bespoke mailer was sent to a hit list of journalists, while broadcast and radio was targeted with the track and supporting video.

Jester – an influencer in his own right – helped promote the video on his own social media channels, while we built a highly-targeted Facebook paid social campaign to target an active social audience and drive video views.

Convert:

• 21 pieces of coverage – including online and broadcast from Yahoo News, Good Morning Britain, and Prolific North
• 6M media circulation
• £0.03 average ad CPR
• Educated and inspired audiences to “drink cask beer”