Along roads near Rosetown and Biggar in Saskatchewan, hay bales that look from a distance like giant beer cans appeared in late July. They did not end up there by accident. Busch Canada turned them into advertising spaces called Baleboards and placed the campaign right among the fields where one of the key ingredients in its beer is grown.
The idea was developed as an extension of the limited-edition Farmer’s Pack, which Busch introduced across the Canadian Prairies in early July. The packaging and can design are inspired by the region’s fields and the Canadian-grown barley used to make the beer, while the edition is available at selected retailers across the region while supplies last.
To promote it, Citizen Relations Canada and Busch did not look for advertising space in city centres. Selected traditional hay bales on farms in Saskatchewan were wrapped in Farmer’s Pack visuals, creating large cylindrical roadside ads whose shape already resembles a can. At some locations, several were placed together like an oversized pack of beer.
The location is more than scenery. Saskatchewan is the main source of barley for Labatt Breweries of Canada, with around 85 percent of the barley the company uses in its breweries grown in the province. The Baleboards have been placed alongside fields where barley used in the production of its beer was grown.
An important part of the campaign also takes place behind the unusual OOH format itself. The farmers who provided the space were not treated as unpaid campaign partners. For each Baleboard, Busch paid them an amount comparable to the standard market rate for billboard advertising, meaning that part of the media budget goes directly to the producers the campaign is intended to spotlight.
The farmers’ response encouraged the company to take the concept beyond this year’s launch. For 2027, Busch has announced that ten percent of its national media budget will be allocated to this form of farm-based advertising. Hay bales are no longer the only surfaces being considered. Silos, combines, barns and water towers are among the possibilities, while the company is already looking for additional farms that could take part.
For now, the giant Busch cans can still be found along Saskatchewan’s roads, just a few metres from the crops that brought the entire idea to those fields in the first place.
