Żubr was one of the local brands of the Dojlidy Brewery in Białytsok, which at the beginning of the 2000s joined Kompania Piwowarska. That’s when it was decided that the brand will be promoted across Poland. The power of Żubr lied in three aspects. First of all, as a species that was extinct and then reintroduced, the bison (żubr in Polish) has become a truly royal animal in Poland. Second of all, it was relevant for the Podlasie region. And third of all, it is connected to nature, which was important from the consumer perspective.

Thinking about the holidays, consumers were looking for a moment of rest. A vacation abroad was not a popular option at that time, nor an easily available one. Our consumers usually spent their holidays in rented cabins or tents, somewhere by a lake or forest, surrounded by nature. To some extent, it is the same today. Instead of a mountain trek, they go fishing. What matters most is peace and quiet, and contemplating nature – our Żubr has always fit perfectly into that.

Taking advantage of the scale

We are very pleased that as the Żubr brand, Kompania Piwowarska, and particularly the employees of Kompania Piwowarska, we have a chance to find and support such people and organizations. It gives us hope – especially in the context of the current state of Polish nature and the climate crisis. We are aware of the fact that we are speeding in a truck with no brakes, and it is the kind of people we support who are trying to stop it. Every year, the Żubr Fund donates a million zlotys to support nature but, in fact, it is a drop in the seas of needs. Not much will change, if we – employees and consumers – do not change our behaviour and attitude. People live very comfortably now, but often it is at the expense of excessive exploitation of natural resources, and the results of that become more and more visible.

We are aware of the massive scale of Żubr. We are a gigantic brand and reach many consumers who are not considered eco-friendly, even though they often live in small towns or villages, closer to Polish nature than us working in offices. They have nature withing their reach, so we want to spark their interest in our activities. We aim to carry out campaigns that will generate proper buzz, believing that if we get them interested, they will start paying more attention to what is going on in their surroundings. If nature is ever mentioned on the news, it is usually negative information. We feel that we need to give people hope and show that there is a lot of positive things going on in terms of environmental protection.

While executing current projects, we already think and talk about what is ahead of us. We would definitely like to take care of animals killed on the roads. It seems to us like the present system warning drivers about wild animals does not work at all – there is a lot of road signs, not a lot of animals, and yet they still get killed. Even though we realize that this is a multi-layered project that requires the engagement of many parties, we hope that we will find a way to scale the right solution in cooperation with scientists. We are also exploring potentials ways of helping the Odra River to bring it back to the state from before last year’s catastrophe. As the Żubr Fund, we started in Podlasie, now we want to expand to other regions of Poland.

Nowadays, the biggest challenge is the fact that nature simply needs some peace and quiet, and we are trying to give it exactly that. We need green areas where animals can function safely, and different types of plants can grow peacefully. The best way to do that is by purchasing pieces of land and giving them back to nature. Nature needs space without any human interference.