Australia went into national lockdown in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses across the nation were closed overnight, as the government attempted to halt the spread of the virus. Months later, as the rate of daily infections was consistently maintained at zero, restrictions started to lift, and eventually businesses such as pubs/bars were allowed to open to the public again. However, Australians were understandably a little slow to return to pubs/bars, as group interactions still made many people a little hesitant and nervous. Our client, Merivale, owns 70 licenced venues in Sydney, and our brief was to encourage consumers to come back to these establishments, especially in groups. Yep, our job was to normalise Aussies going back to the pub – a brief that would have seemed extremely redundant pre-COVID! How did we do this? By solving an age-old problem and particular pain point for many pub patrons.