Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corporation lauded at FMCG Asia Awards 2024

It has leveraged innovative technology to create an immersive customer experience.

Beer producer Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) took home the Customer Experience Initiative of the Year - Vietnam category win at the highly sought-after FMCG Asia Awards 2024 for its Year of the Dragon campaign that is aimed at reclaiming its market leadership from international competitors.

Sabeco’s iconic beer brand Bia Saigon has seized the opportunity presented by Tet, the country’s biggest celebration of the Lunar New Year, to offer groundbreaking experiences and make itself the most loved Tet beer again.

Named “Welcoming year of Dragon, Multiply prosperity,” the campaign has targeted Vietnamese consumers across 63 provinces, who are deeply rooted in national pride and culture, especially during Tet. Focussing on millennials and Gen Z balances respect for traditions with a forward-looking mindset.

Recognising that modern consumers crave interactive and experiential engagements rather than passive interactions, Sabeco’s strategy is to turn its brand symbol, similar to that of a dragon, into a sight of shared prosperity.

This is materialised through leveraging augmented reality (AR) technology to animate its dragon logo. For Tet 2024, Saigon brought its five stock-keeping units (SKU) to life. The mobile-first 3D AR game, "Catch the Dragon, Unleash Fortune," uses each SKU's iconic dragon symbol to represent a sleeping dragon, awakened by scanning the can with AR.

Players summon, unite, and train all five legendary dragons to engage in battles, earning rewards like Bia Saigon beer, daily prizes, and a grand prize of VND5b. Collecting all five cans unlocks even more fortune for a meaningful Tet.

At the same time, Sabeco has launched a TVC on popular networks and engaged consumers through activities such as the Dragon Wheel and a Variant Promotion Prize, capturing the Tet spirit and offering multiple touchpoints for them to experience the campaign’s message of prosperity.

Sabeco’s Tet campaign has led to a market share increase of +1.0 points during Tet 2024 period in comparison with Tet 2023. There has also been a 63.4% increase in volume growth in modern trade in peak Tet period in 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. The campaign’s promotional tactics, including gift sets and lucky draws, created an instant impact and resulted in a +7.6 point market share increase in modern trade.

Bia Saigon’s Top of Mind (TOM) awareness in four cities tripled the gap with the second brand in the market, moving from -2 to +5 points compared to a competitor.

“By using our iconic dragon logo as a device to gain and share prosperity, the campaign resonated deeply with Vietnamese consumers during Tet which created remarkable results, becoming TOM beer brand in Tet and capturing substantial market share,” the company said.

Organised by Retail Asia, the FMCG Asia Awards celebrates the most outstanding companies in Asia’s FMCG industry, recognising exceptional products, innovative initiatives, and remarkable projects.

The FMCG Asia Awards is presented by Retail Asia Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2025 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's exceptional products or initiatives in the FMCG industry, please contact Jane Patiag at [email protected].