‘Keeping Barnaby Upright’: Lightning Minds takes out cheeky billboard in Canberra via Hypnosis
After news and video dropped of former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce appearing to have drunkenly fallen off a planter on Lonsdale Street in Canberra, Hypnosis Creative Agency and Lightning Minds, a non-alcoholic beer brand, saw a flat-out great opportunity.
Within hours of the footage being released, Hypnosis had booked a mobile billboard to drive to Parliament House with a message for the Honourable Mr Joyce. As the truck made its way through the capital a Network 10 film crew hailed it down to capture footage which later appeared on The Sunday Project.
Joyce was filmed horizontal and muttering obscene nothings into his phone after Parliament wrapped on Wednesday night. While some Nationals members insisted he was “clearly unwell”, Hypnosis, Lightning Minds and the rest of Australia had a sneaky suspicion there might have been something else at play. While the non-alc lifestyle may seem entirely foreign to Barnaby, it’s not to Michael Payne, who started Lightning Minds in 2020 after noticing the positive balance that going non-alc had on his life.
Hypnosis Co-founder and Executive Creative Director, Guy Patrick, said: “Most Australians saw the footage of Mr Joyce appearing to be under the influence, and immediately thought of occasions when they themselves had had a few too many drinks. You could feel the entire country shrink into itself with communal empathy for the poor old boy. So we thought we’d offer a simple solution to Barnaby and the rest of Australia.”
Hypnosis Co-founder and Managing Director, Amber Martin, said: “It is critical for agencies to be paying close attention to what’s happening in the world. In this case it was a quick reaction to a fleeting moment in politics but thinking broader we have to have to be plugged into culture, new technologies and trends.”
Lightning Minds is one of the most exciting non-alc beers in Australia, available in over 130 stockists and growing. And with a capital raise on the horizon, they could soon be available in Canberra, where it seems they are most needed.
8 Comments
Yes, very good.
Funny and fast.
Well played.
Saw this on The Project last night – classic stuff.
This is the kind of support the person walking past an inverted Barnaby should have offered.
Some classic stuff right here.
Great use of the situation. Well done guys!
Why would anyone drink non-alcoholic beer?
I get it
Alcohol has a Barnaby problem.