Does VB’s decline prove you shouldn’t kill a good tagline?
There’s been something of a theme emerging this week.
On the one hand, new data on VB suggests that the beer’s new positioning has done nothing to stop the decline in its market share – and indeed may even have hastened it. Droga 5’s The Regulars ad may have entertained adwankas like me, but it doesn’t seem to have struck a wider chord.
And on the other, Meat & Livestock Australia has been criticised for the opposite – for not refreshing its annual Australia Day Sam Kekovich campaign by BMF.
And while change is exciting – so journos like it – I think I’m with the long termists. For A Hard-Earned Thirst was such a great position for VB – the drink you deserve after you’ve done a day’s work.
After having seen The Regulars dozens if not hundreds of times, I just had to watch it again to learn that its new line is The Drinking Beer.
But of course, taking a famous brand and repositioning it is a short route to attention for marketing directors and their agencies.
Which is why the reaction to the latest Sam Kekovich at was relatively predictable. The complaint being that it wasn’t as funny as the first time.
But you have to choose between the shock of the new and an ongoing platform that you gradually build. You can’t have both.
As one creative put it to me today – the success of the new Mini came from building on the heritage of the old. Not starting all over again. It’s the same with any brand.
Think VB will go back? I doubt it.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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No heritage building in the Droga5 execution – no stratgey either. The “drinking beer” what does that mean anyway?
They may not go back. But they will continue to go backwards.
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Is this a case of the Marketing Peeps for VB relying on the infamy of the “hot creative shop” to get it through? Big risk to take!
Given the plethora of beer brand choices nowadays it was always going to be a struggle to maintain brand share. Moving away from the core idea of a true blue Aussie bloke “deserving” a beer at the end of the day’s hard work should still ring true now as it ever did.
I think they sacrificed brand evolution for a quick humour hit. That’s about it.
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I think it simply has something to do with the fact that the beer just doesn’t taste good
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Droga5 got a hospital pass from Fosters – and they havent done a bad job. They received a beer that is low quality, just had %’s of alcohol taken out of it, and was on the decline.
However, why would they get rid of the only equity the brand has (the tagline), and confuse another partial equity by turning the green can gold for mid (the colour of its competitor).
However, Fosters are learning to fix what look like mistakes to an outsider (i.e. returning Cascade to a 375ml bottle). I think they may return to the old tagline too – that would be a very well received PR story.
It’s a good ad – but VB is for a hard earned thirst. All beers are drinking beers.
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Here is a thought – perhaps VB sales are in decline because it tastes bad, gives you wind and a bad hangover, and there is a large range these days from more acceptable mainstream through to high end micro brews.
Of course, all very subjective, but I have seen a lot of people that once happily drank the stuff now choosing something else, and its not just the advertising that is causing the swing
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Yes, I’m with the majority of comments so far.
It does matter about the tagline, the beer tastes like S#@t and more Australian’s are learning to read and write, so fewer bogon’s.
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or maybe VB is just a crap product finally outclassed by so many great new beers? real question around the decline is not just the new comms, but the underlying value.
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Or perhaps its a seriously over-rated ad and everyone just thinks they have to praise it becauce it came from Droga 5!
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new VB tagline should be “at least its better than New”
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@ Gordon Whitehead – ‘bogon’? Is that the same as bogan? More Aussies learning to read and write indeed.
Agree re consensus on VB taste. Like Four X, the only question is how they get the cat to piss in the can? Oops… bogan comment.
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Right on, Maria. Def something of the Emperor’s new clothes about D5 Oz. Just feels like an old world agency struggling to live up to the name on the door.
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Not sure that I agree that this current campaign isn’t built on heritage. The resonance is there in the tune. The concept that you can get it “any ol’ how” is there with the different groups. The characters push the whole “working class” Australian image a bit, but not quite enough to break the brand.
No, I’m not real sure, in a 5-minute analysis, that this is a communication problem and so I’m not sure that the decline should be blamed purely on the campaign (I’d like to see what the metrics have been like over the past few years).
I’m pretty sure that it’s more product, competition and beer-drinking market dynamics and honestly, VB’s heritage was probably its own worst enemy in that context.
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VB is a working class beer with a (near) boutique price which overshot it’s quality long ago. Fosters need to get back to basics and a $10 six pack.
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I can’t believe that Droga 5 haven’t been blasted for pinching the artist Jeremy Deller’s work for this. He had parade with regular people and won the Turner Prize for it. People holding banners with such signs as ‘Unrepentant smokers’ and ‘Goth kids who hang out the front of shops’.
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