The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
Poker turns beer crates into furniture for 500K corner shops — El Ojo 2024 Grand Prix
Only 4% of Colombia's 500K corner shops could afford furniture, but all had Poker's empty crates — 'petacos' become modular tables, bars and billiards.
Cerveza Poker (AB InBev Colombia)
What it had to solve
Poker sells mostly through more than 500,000 Colombian tiendas de barrio, which represent 52% of its sales, and shops that offer gathering spaces can lift sales by up to 15%. Yet only 4% of shopkeepers could afford the furniture to create them.
How it works
Colombia has more than 500,000 tiendas de barrio — corner shops that represent 52% of Poker beer's sales. Research showed shops that give friends a place to sit and play can lift sales by up to 15%, yet only 4% of shopkeepers could afford the furniture to create that space. Almost all of them, however, already had stacks of 'petacos' — the plastic crates Poker's returnable bottles arrive in.
So DDB Colombia and Buentipo Anchor built 'Imagine With Petacos', a modular design system that turns the crate into furniture: tables and chairs, bars, billiards, foosball, stages and DJ sets. Shopkeepers earn the extra pieces through BEES, AB InBev's B2B digital platform, accumulating points with their beer purchases and redeeming them for parts; a film by director Gina Medina showed the stores becoming neighborhood entertainment hubs.
The system went into 2,000 stores, above the initial target, and WARC reported a 30% rise in Poker sales and a 15% increase in shopkeepers' income. The campaign won the Gran Ojo in Brand Experience & Activation at El Ojo 2024, a Silver and four Bronzes at Cannes Lions 2024, and a Bronze at the London International Awards.
Why it lands
- The insight starts from what already exists in every shop — the crate — so the fix costs almost nothing to distribute.
- Furniture isn't a gift; it's earned through BEES purchases, so the mechanic drives sales instead of just spending brand money.
- The idea turns Poker from a product sitting in the corner shop into the reason people stay in the corner shop.
- Modularity lets each tienda build its own space — a DJ set or a basketball court — so the system scales across 500K very different stores.
- It raises the shopkeeper's income, giving the brand a story that works in both effectiveness and creative awards.
What it did
The system was installed in 2,000 stores, above target; WARC reported a 30% rise in Poker sales and a 15% increase in shopkeepers' income. It won the Gran Ojo in Brand Experience & Activation at El Ojo 2024, a Silver and four Bronzes at Cannes Lions 2024, and an LIA Bronze.
What you can take
Find the object already present in your customer's world and make it the product: instead of giving corner shops new furniture, Poker turned the crate its beer already arrives in into the furniture.
Since then
After the 2024 awards run — El Ojo's Gran Ojo, Cannes Silver plus four Bronzes, and an LIA Bronze — the initiative kept running through BEES, where purchase points continue to be redeemed for furniture parts. WARC wrote it up as an effectiveness case in 2025, crediting the petaco system with the 30% sales increase and the 2,000-store rollout, and it became a reference for beer brands growing by investing in retail infrastructure rather than media.
Sources
- Buentipo Anchor, DDB Colombia y Cerveza Poker presentan Imagine with Petacos
- Imagine with Petacos: La nueva iniciativa de DDB Colombia y Buentipo Anchor para Poker
- Cerveza Poker: Imagine with petacos
- El Gran Ojo Experiencia de Marca & Activación es de DDB Colombia / Buentipo
- Imagine with Petacos — London International Awards 2024
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