XXXX is a 145-year-old beer brand with proud heritage from the state of Queensland, Australia. However, in the last decade its legacy had been eclipsed by the arrival of Great Northern, an imposter beer claiming to be from Queensland, that shifted XXXX from #1 to third most popular beer in the state.

For 33 years XXXX beer has been the longest-standing-sponsor of Queensland Rugby League’s Maroons team in ‘Australia’s Super Bowl’, the State of Origin (SOO), which unites communities through footy, beer and mateship.

For the 2023 State of Origin Series, XXXX needed reappraisal amongst Queenslanders with an original idea to leverage their 33-year-long sponsorship of Queensland’s State of Origin team, the Maroons, backed by Queensland Rugby League (QRL). The campaign objectives included increasing sales, changing brand perception and reclaiming their position as Queensland's favourite beer once again.

In a powerful demonstration of Queensland pride, a small made a big impact. The iconic red-and-yellow XXXX logo on the jersey sleeve was sacrificed, making way for Queensland (4000) postcodes to celebrate Queensland spirit and community pride. The logo on the jersey’s left sleeve - closest to the players’ hearts - was replaced with the postcode of the players’ junior rugby club; the local community that evoked their passion to represent Queensland, for Australia’s most watched television event, the State of Origin series.

Before the postcode reveal, XXXX worked closely with partner, QRL, to create and deliver compelling assets for earned media coverage. The most famous players participated in a shoot to debut their new-look jerseys and recorded video and radio interviews about why they felt proud to represent their Queensland postcodes, accompanied by a docu-series to spotlight three communities airing on State of Origin game-days showcasing Queensland's pride.

Through its 33-year-long partnership with the Maroons, XXXX celebrated community/Queensland spirit was proven through the release of limited ‘postcode cans’.

All 400 Queensland postcodes were represented and all 5.18million Queenslanders could join in with their own demonstrations of pride:

· Take a photo ‘demonstrating Pride in your Origin’, spelling your postcode with XXXX cans in the image.

· Visit www.xxxx.com.au/prideinyourorigin or scan the QR code on pack to enter.

· Competition dates 18/04/23 - 12/07/23.

Before the postcode reveal, XXXX worked closely with partner, QRL, to create assets to deliver a compelling story for earned media coverage. The most famous players participated in a shoot to debut their new-look jerseys and recorded video and radio interviews with heartfelt sentiment on why they felt proud representing their Queensland postcodes. Regional media played an important role in targeting regional Queenslander and showcasing their postcode using stories about players local to that area.

30-million special edition XXXX cans with individual numbers were released so every Queenslander could create (spell out) their postcode and share their UGC for the chance to win.

To set the tone for submissions, XXXX briefed 40 Queensland micro-influencers to capture their own postcode pride to seed via their personal Instagram accounts. XXXX shared these across owned Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to inspire Queenslanders’ UGC submissions, which were featured in owned social, digital, earned media and hyper-localised OOH.

7,294 UGC demonstrations of pride were submitted, flooding in from across all 447 postcodes in Queensland, Australia.

The campaign comms were live from late May 2023, while the postcode cans competition ran from 18/04/23 until 12/07/23 - during the State of Origin Series period, coinciding with matches played on 31/05/23, 21/06/23 and 12/07/23.

By leveraging its partnership with QRL , XXXX’s brand awareness saw a 41.7% increase during the State of Origin Series.

The campaign inspired 7,294 UGC demonstrations of pride which were submitted on the XXXX social platforms, from all 447 postcodes in Queensland. The campaign received 113 pieces of coverage with a combined reach of 19,594,667 and 100% positive sentiment, including state-wide and nationally syndicated evening news bulletins, radio and online articles, all stemming from the clever use of live advertising at State of Origin events.

XXXX sales increased by 6% increase, more than 1.3million litres of beer and 3.4million cans sold than previous year and 22.4% recorded market share of total pack beer sold in Queensland during the SOO season.

Thus, achieving successful reappraisal of the brand amongst consumers.