VB Solar Announcement
CUB
Issue 53 | January 2020
Agency
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Creative Team
Creative Chairman: James McGrath Chief Creative Officer: Stephen de Wolf Executive Creative Director: Evan Roberts Art Director: Dal Evans de Almeida Copywriter: Michael Hughes
Production Team
Director: Christopher Tovo Producer: Selin Yaman Production Company: Flare Post-Production Company: Finish Executive Producer: Sonia von Bibra Producer: Amalia Makris Senior Print Producer: Nicholas Short Editor: Sam Coates Photographer: Chas Mackinnon (Betty Wants In) Sound Engineer: Ramsay Demarco (Squeak E. Clean Studios Melbourne)
Other Credits
Head of PR: Nick Zonnios Senior Account Manager PR: Sophie Truter Casting: Catapult Casting Planning Director: Brigitte Bayard General Manager: Jonny Berger Project Director: Katya Urlwin Account Manager: James Kerr Client: Carlton & United Breweries Head of Classic Brands: Chris Maxwell Associate Director – VB: Hugh Jellie Assistant Brand Manager – VB: Emma Turner
Date
September 2019
Background
In an effort to minimize their carbon footprint – in 2020 the brewing process for Victoria Bitter will be 100% offset by solar energy.
The challenge was they weren’t first to the solar party, Companies changing their manufacturer process to solar energy is quite commonplace these days, so regardless of it being a good story, they weren’t guaranteed of people taking notice.
What they were sure of however was that any time the words ‘change’ and ‘VB’ were included in the same sentence, alarm bells went off in fans’ minds.
This is largely because of a change that VB made to its beer a few years ago, when it reduced its alcohol content, leading to huge controversy and its base turning its back on the product.
Idea
Knowing how adverse their audience is to changing VB, the idea was to tell them they were changing again, launching a new brew Victoria Better.
The message was clear, yet non-descriptive: ‘We’re changing for the better’.
As expected, the message was met with outrage, disbelief and fear. Favourite fan comment, ‘I’m as nervous as a goose in a doona factory on this one’.
They let the speculation grow for 24hrs as fans guessed what the change might be. Some were certain it was another change to the recipe; others thought a packaging update and some even thought they were going to introduce a zero-alcohol alternative… Most just begged them not to change anything at all. All the while, their reactions were captured across social and throughout the media.
Once 24hrs had passed, the announcement film was released during the NRL finals broadcast and on social, putting the fans’ nerves at ease – ‘don’t worry, we’re not changing the beer, just the power that makes it…’.
The response was exactly what they had hoped for as the film was met with positivity about the change to solar and equal relief that the brew wasn’t changing.
To encapsulate the whole reveal, a wrap-up video was created, showcasing the outrage and speculation, through to the reveal, and then to jubilation and relief.
All in all, an incredibly interesting way to announce a fairly standard corporate undertaking, all the while re-engaging with fans across the country.
Results
Overall, the Victoria Better campaign proved to be a huge success. What would have ordinarily been a film-led campaign got transformed into a campaign that got the country talking, blew up social media and etched a positive image of VB in consumers’ minds. The numbers were as follows: 10m total impressions across traditional and social media channels Resulting in approximately $1m in advertising value Incredible sentiment recording for the brand And one of the other measures of success was that following the campaign, AB-Inbev globally announced Victoria Bitter as the global group’s #1 earned media brand, ahead of the likes of Budweiser in the US. An incredible feat for an Australian brand.