In April 2020, due to the covid pandemic, the beer industry had to shut down its production and distribution operations in Mexico because alcoholic drinks weren’t considered an essential activity. However, Mexico is the first exporter and fourth producer of beer worldwide. This represents 650,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The only beer that could be produced, distributed, and marketed during the beer ban in Mexico was created. Victoria 1.8 with 1.8% alcohol degrees.

How was it achieved? According to Mexican law, a drink below 2% alcohol is not considered an alcoholic drink. In record time, Victoria 1,8 was formulated, produced, and distributed, the world's first beer with 1.8% alcohol.

In real-time, an ambitious e-commerce structure was created in collaboration with the most specialized platforms in the sector such as Walmart, Amazon, Rappi, Chedraui, Comercial Mexicana, Beerhouse.com, and even tienditacerca.com was developed, a platform belonging to the company to distribute Victoria 1,8 in the smallest stores in Mexico where beer represents a high percentage of their profits.

Victoria needed not to be silent, to do something to keep the employment of as many Mexicans as possible, and to find new ways to bring our new proposal to consumers with a message of unity, strength, and solidarity.

Launching Victoria 1,8 gave a resilient and powerful voice to the brand. The PR strategy was proposed with messages focused on different points, related to economics, politics, agribusiness, business, and marketing.

To achieve greater media coverage during the launch we work on archetypes with a specific and well-defined message: "Victoria 1,8, the beer that was born to help" in key areas such as Cultural: strengthening the social fabric, Social: support and solidarity, Economic: aimed at small, medium and large companies.

Once produced and ready for distribution, the Victoria 1,8 purpose was launched as the beer that was born to help and reduce the economic impact of the beer ban on the entire production and distribution chain.

Stores were created within our partners' platforms, highlighting Amazon and Walmart cases that were adapted and optimized in real-time by interpreting the data behaviors in consumer purchasing processes.

Once established, we leveraged the trend of streaming concerts to promote a new moment of consumption and purchase, taking advantage of alliances with delivery platforms such as Rappi (Most Used App in Mexico) that amplify our distribution network and bring Victoria 1,8 immediately to consumers.

We created in record time “Victoria 1,8” beer that was the only one for sale in all of Mexico during prohibition in 2020.

Victoria helped keep an active production chain in shops and businesses that were affected during the ban, reducing the economic and social impact of an industry representing 650,000 direct and indirect jobs.

In just two weeks, Victoria 1,8 managed to sell the same amount of hectolitres that Stella Artois takes a year. At the end of the campaign, it got 1.5M revenue which is 141% more than business as usual.

Over two months, Victoria 1,8 was the only beer on the market, creating a new category in one of the world's tightest industries.

Corona, the most famous beer in the world, replicated our model with its own version of Corona Ligera with 1.8% alcohol degrees, months after our launch.