The Campaign

Cheap fake tank tops doesn't exactly say craft and value. For Chang Beer to gain a legit reputation that it deserves outside of Thailand, we had to fight fire with fire. So we created the first official fashion line for the beer brand. Drawing from the creative energy rising in Asia, we collaborated with the region’s urban artists to design a capsule collection that draws inspiration from Chang's shared values about craft and kinship. The designer pieces became the new platform for Chang to connect with young and trendy drinkers in Hong Kong and Vietnam, through branded content produced by street credible platforms - HypeBeast and Vice. With the official capsule collections dropping in trendy clubs across Hong Kong and Vietnam, effectively raising Chang’s true street cred.

Creative Execution

To convince trendy young drinkers outside of Thailand that Chang is all about craft, we countered Chang’s infamous fashion credentials, those cheap unofficial tank tops found in the backstreets and rustic beaches of Thailand, by creating a fashion collection with street value that could not be bargained. Drawing from the creative energy rising in Asia, we collaborated with the region’s urban artists to start a new fashion label. We launched the collection through: Looking through a wider cultural lens, we commissioned documentaries with both Vice (in Vietnam) and Hypebeast (in Hong Kong), focusing on the roots of the kinship that led to this fashion colloboration Bringing an interactive celebration to the people, we created a series of bespoke performance events across both markets, that became a physical fashion drop – launching the collections through collaborative performances, live stunts and surprise album drops.

KPI 1 Street-selling to streetwear We listed with key independent streetwear retailers in both markets KPI 2 Bottom rung to top shelf The campaign not only helped to increase merchandise value by 468% (SGD6.21 to SGD35.29), but positioned Chang as a brand that offered instant street cred KPI 3 Creating desire while moving upmarket 50% of the collections were sold within the first few days of launch KPI 4 Making the collection famous through PR value and reach PR Value Hong Kong - $437,961.45 Vietnam - $119,701.69 Trade- $540,000 SUBTOTAL - $1,097,663.14 PR Reach Hong Kong - 2,516,578 Vietnam - 6,489,478 Trade - 3,550,014 SUBTOTAL - 12,556,070

To convince trendy young drinkers outside of Thailand that Chang Beer is all about craft, our campaign had to counter what Chang is most famous for - cheap fake tank tops sold in street markets. By fighting fire with fire, the beer brand created its first official fashion line. Designed by Asian hip-hop artistes, we launched the project with branded content produced by leading fashion and youth centric publications - HypeBeast & Vice. Intentionally, the documentaries focused on sharing the ethos and inspiration behind the artistes and the collection. Which in turn, reflected the ethos on craft shared by Chang.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Young and trendy drinkers outside of Thailand do not perceive its national beer to be about craft. Made worse by a category already flooded with independent craft beers. The last thing that they wanted to see is probably another brand boring them with details of how the beer is brewed with the finest ingredients and love. So to launch Chang Beer in Hong Kong and Vietnam, this outsider had to leverage upon another craft that the audience admired - Hip Hop and street fashion. By sharing Chang's ethos with Asian artistes, the creation of an official fashion label by the beer brand was used to capture the hearts of a previously indifferent audience. As we relied on branded content documentaries produced by street credible platforms HypeBeast & Vice to legitimise the brand's reputation on the streets, in turn putting liquid on lips.