VB

Victoria Bitter is a lager beer originally produced by the Foster’s Group in Melbourne, Australia. It was first brewed by Thomas Aitken at Victoria Brewery in 1854, and remains one of the highest selling beers in Australia.

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INDUSTRY
  • Consumer goods
  • Beverage alcohol
BRANDING TO
  • Become known
  • Grow marketshare
  • Conquer new markets
SERVICES
  • Advertising & promotion
  • Website design & development
  • Marketing collateral
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The Situation

Treasury Wine Estates had a successful wine import business and wanted to leverage their expertise and distribution clout to bring in VB, Australia’s #1 beer to Canada.

With a 22% market share in Australia, VB was positioned and priced as a mainstream brand. But the cost of importing VB from Australia meant it needed to be re-positioned for the Canadian market so that it could sustain a premium price similar to Stella Artois and Heineken. The best known Australian beer, Fosters had been bottled in Canada under license for decades and many drinkers dismissed it as a Canadian beer with an Australian label.

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Human Catalyst

Beer drinkers will always pay more for authenticity.

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Our Solution

Following extensive research where four different creative platforms were tested, Yield Branding landed on an authenticity brand strategy based on VB’s true Australian heritage and imported product. The brand strategy was expressed through many known and other little known Australian characteristics and attributes then humorously compared to the same found in Canada. The creative conclusion was that Australia and Canada were ‘surprisingly alike’.

Yield developed a creative platform based around the iconic red and green label using the back of a delivery truck to symbolize the brand’s launch.

The branding campaign was centered on a website and digital marketing assets where drinkers could celebrate the arrival of VB and learn where to find the product. Highly memorable radio and digital advertising helped build awareness and drive traffic to the website.

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The Yield

For the first year following launch, VB maintained an 8% share of Alberta premium beer market. The radio advertising won a Crystal Award and was cited as among the top radio beer advertising by Marketing Magazine.

The launched was short-circuited when Fosters sold Treasury Wine Estates which resulted in the loss of distribution rights and de-listing at The Beer Store in Ontario.

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