Rebuilding a beer brand for the global market.
In 2015, I began a skunkworks project to reinvent and relaunch the Hoegaarden brand. Ignored for years and all but abandoned, it was clear that this was diamond in the rough and that there was a lot to love about the brand. It represented a global opportunity based on consumer trends that were signalling a brand fit: First and foremost, the beer was the best in the world in its style. And secondly, it had a heritage story that any modern craft brand would kill for (including a recipe developed in 1445 by monks).
We blew the dust off the brand and made it resonate for our modern urban global consumer target and repositioned the brand to take advantage of global trends around natural-ness, health & wellness, seasonality and the opportunity to create a truly unisex beer brand by appealing to women in an authentic way.
We piloted the launch in South Korea and achieved 52% year-over-year growth, doing so in a hypermature market with 94% brand awareness, setting the stage for a complete global roll-out to over 185 global markets. This led to Hoegaarden being named AB InBev's 4th global brand, joining Corona, Stella and Budweiser.
Consumer Insights
Creative Direction
Experiential
Product Innovations
Global Brand Strategy
Brand Repositioning
Global Marketing
New Primary Packaging
Hoegaarden has been named ABinBev's 4th global brand, joining Stella, Corona, and Budweiser
We piloted the launch in South Korea and in a mature market with 94% brand awareness and achieved 52% year-over-year growth
We tapped into global trends around natural-ness, health & wellness, and seasonality
The revived Hoegaarden brand is launching in 185 global markets
