Victoria Bitter Social Content
Valentinnies
IHAC AWARDS 2026 FINALIST
By using social listening, we noticed Aussie couples organically sharing romantic milestone moments on social—weddings, anniversaries, first dates—holding VB.
Valentine’s Day—traditionally sentimental and very un-VB—was just weeks away. That tension became the strategy. For VB drinkers, Valentine’s Day is hard work. Leaning into that truth allowed us to respond quickly without over-engineering the idea.
In no time, and with a shoestring $3.5k budget, we went from insight to product: VB Valentins, a limited-edition two-pack of custom cans and packaging – made to share.
Working across design, production, legal, ops and social, we rapidly approved artwork, prototyped cans and packaging, manufactured a short run, and created a suite of social, influencer and lifestyle content.
The result was immediate and measurable: engagement rates 560% above benchmark (measured against entire Asahi Beverages Beer Portfolio), strong participation within an entry window, and an outpouring of organic brand love.
VB Valentins proves that when teams are empowered to act quickly, even iconic brands can move at the speed of culture—and win.
Credits:
Creative Director: Steph Kitchin
Creative Team: Molly Robertson & Rowan Marsh-Croft
Photographer: Jack Gruber
47 hours watchtime on 6” launch video.
17 competition entires per hour
On a shoe-string budget of $3.5k and 100% in-house production, we reached 402k Aussies and received 1.5k competition entries.
VB, meet TikTok.
Jan 2025 – Launching a 170yo beer brand on TikTok
The creative and media team here at Asahi 1house introduced VB to TikTok as carefully as introducing a toddler to broccoli. Brand content disguised as user generated content. TikTok being the sound-driven platform it is, we centered our campaign around the VB theme song from 1984. Bup bup bup ba-da-dup!
1house teamed up with Jack Archdale (AKA Jarchy) to remake the classic VB TVC in his own tone of voice. Jarchy ticked all the boxes – he has a huge TikTok following in the states that love VB, he’s a massive fan of VB which leads to authentic content, and his voice is as gravelly as a Dubbo driveway.
With 11 million paid impressions and 30k clicks into the VB Theme sponsored sound you could say VB was welcomed to TikTok with open arms. The Paid Engagement Rate for the whole TikTok launch campaign doubled Asahi’s TikTok portfolio average, with Jarchy’s video almost tripling it. Given the campaign videos were mostly over 30 secs duration, we still had a 63% stronger View Through Rate than Asahi Beverages’ Beer Portfolio benchmark.
Backing that TikTok launch moment up with our ‘Splitting the B’ post on St Patrick’s Day was a stroke of genius. This video garnered 80k organic views on TikTok and a Meta engagement rate 557% above benchmark, if you don’t mind. One year into our TikTok journey and this 170 year old beer brand is already hitting it’s stride on Gen-Z’s favourite social app. See below for these examples and more.