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Camden Town Brewery is giving away 90,000 beers in what the brand claims is “the world’s first TV ad you can (kind of) drink” – and it has launched an equally absurd ad to match.

“Give ‘em Hells beer giveaway” by Wieden & Kennedy London features a string of animated Camden Hells brewers – inspired by survey answers from Camden Town Brewery employees – as they come to the conclusion that “2020 is bad”.

In a bid to perk up the UK public, the brewer has opted to give people free beer, which can be accessed via a QR code via their TV screens (as explained by a Glaswegian cat).

The campaign launches tonight (18 August) during the Uefa Champions League semi-finals.

The work was created by Adam Newby, Will Wells, Tomas Coleman and Derek Lui, and directed by James Papper through Blinkink. Media planning and buying was handled by Bountiful Cow.

“The strange time we live in this year gave us a new inspiration,” Zoe Wulfsohn-Dunkley, head of brand marketing at Camden Town Brewery, told ��������pk10.

“People might say that beer's not a huge deal, but we wanted to bring a smile to some faces and allow some people to share some beer and enjoy our brand world.”

While the brewery was confident in its decision to enlist not one but four animators for the spot, Wulfsohn-Dunkley said that the slot during the Uefa Champions League “wasn't a North Star”.

She explained: “We always wanted to go live with this around some really immense TV moment. It just so happened that the time of year that we're launching ended up being an opportunity, and once we knew we could we could have a slot it was incredibly exciting.”

During lockdown (29 April), Camden Town Brewery rebranded its signature Camden Hells lager as Camden Heroes to raise money for healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The brewery also launched a virtual bar for housebound booze fans, and auctioned off when they refer to as “the most valuable pint of Camden Hells ever poured”, which was sold for £800 with Camden Town Brewery matching the winning bid in a donation to Hospitality Action’s Covid-19 Emergency Fund.

Jasper Cuppaidge, founder of Camden Town Brewery, said: “2020 has been a tough year for everyone, and we’ve tried to help wherever we can with our lockdown initiatives that aimed to support the hospitality industry and NHS staff and charities across the UK. 

“But now, we wanted to give the great British public the chance to finally share a fresh (socially distanced) beer with friends. We know it’s a small gesture, but we hope to bring some much-needed cheers in the very best way we know how – with fresh beer!”