As the number one beer consumer in Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s beer category is thriving and incredibly competitive. Heineken Vietnam already champions the premium segment. However, with 70% of the category attributed to mainstream products, they needed a mainstream beer brand to extend their reach nationwide.

Enter Bia Việt, strategically launched in 2020 and focused on representing the national pride of Vietnam. In a booming market with multiple regional beer brands embarking on aggressive brand-building to win recognition from consumers, Bia Việt commands strong national awareness across both the North and South regions of Vietnam.

When Heineken Vietnam approached us, they wanted to modernise, premiumise, and build more relevance through their brand and packaging design. They wanted something proudly Vietnamese — one that would inspire and win over the hearts of competitors’ drinkers to enable Bia Việt to be the Pride of Vietnam. They sought to evolve their hard-won
cultural iconicity into one that resonated with the modern consumer and exemplified its progressiveness.

With this in mind, we saw beyond the opportunity to redesign Bia Việt’s packaging. We saw the opportunity for this mainstream beer to stand for something that transcended the category itself.

We tackled this from a culture-first perspective, one that delved deeper to unlock what motivated and defined Vietnamese consumers. Ethnographic research was carried out, and what stood out most meaningfully was the spirit of ‘Tinh Thần’, a uniquely Vietnamese expression which invokes the feeling of group pride and mutually-uplifting bonds.

We started with a unique icon in Bia Việt’s legacy — the Lac bird. This symbol of Vietnamese pride and progress encapsulates the essence of Vietnamese heritage as well as aspirations. We elevated this in our new brand identity by giving it a new contemporary edge, through a more progressive and dynamic expression. Next, we enhanced elements from the Đông Sơn drum, another icon in Vietnamese history which features intricate designs depicting daily life dating back to 7th century B.C.

We then married these two distinct symbols with the striking star of the Vietnam flag. This further reinforced brand authenticity and credibility. We did not just redesign these key elements; we reimagined them to help the brand invoke that sense of emotionality and pride amongst the mainstream Vietnamese beer drinker.

This latest look is striking and modern with uniquely Vietnamese relevance which unabashedly presents Bia Việt as the pride of Vietnam in a way that ignores the beliefs that divide. Consumers’ response is incredibly positive across the board, and some fans have voiced that they appreciate how “Bia Việt encapsulates the young and contemporary Vietnamese spirit”.

Bia Việt now has a new and exciting milestone in its ongoing brand journey as it continues its ascent to the top of Vietnam’s mainstream beer category, and more importantly, into the lives of every beer drinker in Vietnam.

“Thanks to Elmwood, there has been much excitement throughout Heineken and with our customers. This collaboration and partnership has given Bia Việt an insight-driven design solution that checked all our boxes and more. I’m proud to say that we have something that really elevates and modernises Bia Việt across both our packaging and brand world.” – Anna Bizon, Marketing Director, Heineken Vietnam