Activating its rights a top tier partner and as the official beer of the Belgium national team, beer brand Jupiler changed its name for the duration of the FIFA World Cup to, simply, Belgium.
Announced at a beer brand organised press conference, the name change even saw every reference to Jupiler removed from the brewery’s buildings in Jupille.
While the name temporarily changed, the rest of the brand assets remain largely untouched: the iconic bull logo, the can design and the official company red colour all remain the same.
The renaming stunt is one strand of the beer brand’s wider ‘We Are Belgium’ work leveraging spiking soccer interest around Russia 2018.
This campaign, which was developed alongside agency The Communication Company Group BV (Breda, Netherlands, includes events and experiences, newspaper ads and television promotions, as well as digital and social activations.
We are Belgium! Kranten @metrobelgie @metrobelgique zetten identiteit opzij voor hoger doel: vanavond te supporteren voor @BelRedDevils. @Jupiler #rodeduivels #wearebelgium #belgium #BELKSA pic.twitter.com/znmNTS1eRh
— Laure Stuyck (@laurestuyck) March 27, 2018
Ook @metrobelgie zet identiteit opzij om te supporteren voor @rodeduivels! Coole Belgium voorpagina vandaag in @metrobelgie @metrobelgique #wearebelgium @Jupiler #belgium #RedDevils pic.twitter.com/QxN3fFB5BD
— Laure Stuyck (@laurestuyck) March 27, 2018
Für die Dauer der Fußball-WM wird die Biermarke „Jupiler“ in …“Belgium“ umgetauft. #WeAreBelgium #Jupiler #ABInbev @Jupiler @abinbev https://t.co/xik9YsqAeR pic.twitter.com/dAwTDtiF17
— Ostbelgien Direkt (@OstbelDirekt) February 20, 2018
Linked by the campaign’s #WeAreBelgium hashtag all the content pieces within the campaign aim to united Belgian ‘Red Devils’ behind the national team through the tournament.
Other strands of the beer brand’s activation included #AllInRed
Vanavond spelen onze @BelRedDevils hun 2e oefeninterland. Laten we Finland een duivels ontvangst geven! #ALLINRED pic.twitter.com/k4fmNCQrCe
— Jupiler (@Jupiler) June 1, 2016
De fidèles supporters des @BelRedDevils ont transformé leur club en arène Jupiler #ALLINRED. https://t.co/NlnwfGoHuphttps://t.co/t737vuU61R
— Jupiler (@Jupiler) May 26, 2016
Comment:
Changing your brand name, even if it is just for four weeks, can be a risky move. But the level of public support for the Belgian team and nationwide interest in the World Cup certainly reduces the usual risks substantially.
And the beer, err, we mean the team almost won the lot: narrowly losing out to France in the semi-final.
Indeed, so all-consuming was tournament interest that every Belgian news site and media organisation reported directly in the name change strand of the beer company’s campaign.
The Belgian beer brand, now brewed by Anheuser–Busch InBev has been a partner of the Belgian Football Association for 30 years and it is also signed up as the title sponsor of the country’s top division – the Jupiler Pro League.
It is this strong heritage of supporting football that lends a sense of authenticity to the name change decision.
However, it’s not the first time we’ve seen this tactic and not even the first time it has been used by an AB InBev brand.
After all, Budweiser did something similar in the USA when it rebranded simply as ‘America’ in the lead up to the US election.
Links:
Jupiler
https://www.facebook.com/jupiler
https://www.instagram.com/jupiler_belgium/
https://www.snapchat.com/add/jupiler_belgium
https://www.youtube.com/user/jupilerTV
The Communication Company Group
