How L&C helped a beer bottle tackle an environmental crisis in Colombia

With a simple but ingenious tweak, L&C helped address a crucial threat to client Anheuser-Busch InBev’s business partners in Colombia. For farmers in Colombia’s countryside, climate change is a real crisis. During the rainy season in 2022, farmers there lost 4.9 million acres of crops due to overwatering. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here About 23% of the lost crops were cassava, which is the main ingredient in AB InBev’s Nativa beer—a brand favored by Colombia’s farmers. AB InBev purchases more than 1,600 tons of cassava from Colombian farmers every year, providing them with a steady income and AB InBev with a reliable supply, illustrating how the farmers and the brewer depend on one another amid unpredictable conditions. To protect the region where cassava grows from climate change, L&C helped AB InBev to create a second purpose for Nativa bottles, turning them into tools farmers could use to better predict the effects of climate change. AB InBev and the agency worked with meteorologists on a redesign of the Nativa bottle, adding a gauge to measure rainfall and a label helping farmers determine groundwater levels that alert them when to take crop-saving action, such as opening drainage channels or plowing soil. This is the same information a professional rain gauge could provide farmers—but at $18 each, that tool is unaffordable for remote farmers. Nativa Meters go for about 34 cents each. A WhatsApp number on the label allows farmers to share photos and measurements or get advice from Nativa’s agricultural experts. There were 3 million WhatsApp interactions during the five-month rainy season, according to L&C. Approximately 1.2 million Nativa Meter bottles protecting 280,000 acres of farmland are now in use and have helped to save 850 tons of cassava, according to the agency. The Nativa brand has also seen benefits, with a 75% increase in brand favorability and an 81% increase in purchase intent, and sales rose 140%, the shop wrote in its entry. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here

How L&C helped a beer bottle tackle an environmental crisis in Colombia

Featured Stories