JW Lees needed to relaunch Boddingtons to a generation that had never tasted it on cask.
So we built an earned-attention launch that got noticed, talked about, and tried.
Five weeks, five channels, sold out from week one.
William Lees Jones
THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE IMPACT.
2025's biggest Manchester relaunch wasn't the one you think. How DATS brought Boddingtons home to a generation that had never tasted it on cask.
Boddingtons had been off cask for 13 years. The brewing rights came back to JW Lees in 2025, and we had one moment to relaunch it properly: to the CAMRA crowd who remembered it, and to a new generation who never had.
The work needed to be earned, not bought, because no national paid campaign would land the cultural credibility Boddingtons needed in Manchester. So we built a focused, five-channel launch over five weeks.
A launch release that landed in The Sun, Joe and Time Out. A trade story for the industry press. A taste-testing with the UK’s top beer experts, a first pour at Founders Hall, and a pint man in a pint suit handing out 500 free pints across Manchester. A relaunch party for 150 of the city’s biggest names. A seven-minute feature on BBC North West Tonight. And a brand-new social presence built from scratch, reaching 124,763 people in a week.
The casks were empty by the end of week one. They stayed empty all month.
“Boddingtons on TV last night. Amazing coverage for JW Lees Brewery re-launch of Boddingtons on BBC last night. Great work from Daisy Whitehouse and the team at Down at the Social, Rob Gray and Squad, as well as our brewers, marketers, sales team and all of the pubs that have put Boddingtons on their bars in the last four weeks.
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Got a launch that needs to be noticed?
A brand coming back. A product entering a market that has not heard of it. A story that needs to earn its way into the conversation instead of paying for a seat at it. Talk to us. We build launches that get noticed, talked about, and tried.
