CommsCon: ‘We needed to be brave.’ How XXXX earned the hearts of Queenslanders
Iconic Queensland beer brand XXXX has been around for 145 years, and has a lot of pride, according to Lion’s head of marketing – core beer, Chris Allan. But as a traditional brand, it needed some new relevance and modernity – and needed to be brave. So, it sacrificed its logo during State of Origin, and that certainly paid off.
Speaking in front of a packed room at Mumbrella CommsCon on Wednesday, Allan was joined on stage by Thinkerbell’s executive creative tinker Tom Wenborn and lead earned thinker Catherine Tomlinson.
The trio speaking at Mumbrella CommsCon on Wednesday
The trio discussed XXXX’s ‘Queenslander’s Pride in their Origin’ campaign, where the brand sacrificed its logo on the Queensland Maroons jerseys, and got each player to replace it with their hometown postcode and pay homage to their roots.
It created postcode beer cans, it launched a supporting ad that played during the Origin games, and last year, some giant 3DOOH beer cans were erected across high-traffic locations in Queensland.
“XXXX, like any iconic brand whose been around for more than a century, is in a difficult position to stay relevant and actually cut through in culture, in new and exciting ways,” Allan explained.
“So we really needed to find a way to drive some relevance and modernity into what is, in many people’s mind, a rusted old brand.”
He said it’s difficult to find ways to cut through, especially as a legacy brand, and it “needed to be brave”.
Tomlinson said the great thing about a hyper-local campaign, is pitches to Queensland journalists were personalised, and that helped it gain more attention organically.
“That personal level is really important, we were able to work with Queensland media and really personalise pitch notes and make it real and authentic,” she explained.
“We were showing that we really do give a XXXX about the brand, about the community.”
The initiative garnered a ‘XXXX-ton’ of earned media – in its first year, XXXX sold 15 million litres, and saw increases in sales and 22.4% increase in market share. Allan said the following year saw those numbers increase even more.
“The first year was sacrificing the logo on the arms, the second year we created the postcode can, and we’re already working on year three,” Allan concluded.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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Catherine Tomlinson
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Tom Wenborn
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