Quilmes is one of the most experienced brands in Argentina with almost 130 years of history. From the onset it acted as an agent of change on society transforming, for instance, the city of Quilmes.

Over time, that ability to influence the agenda was transferred to its brand, especially in terms of Argentine popular culture, directly linked to friendship, music and football based on a communications platform focused on get-togethers.

Later the brand lost its cultural and popular pulse. As a result, consumers abandoned the brand, consumption declined, the emergence of other beers and a communications proposal that was too generalist that appealed to an excessively cool modernity entirely distant from the reality of the brand and of its consumers.

That is why the brand decided to return to its roots and accept its place celebrating and uplifting popular culture and putting beer at the center of everything we do.

We knew that marketing and advertising was not enough since consumers were not asking for better ads, they were asking for a better beer, or more precisely, a return to the old Quilmes.

So, in search of credibility, we turned to the company’s most commanding beer voice, Luis Dimotta, our Master Brewer, creator of the new recipe.

The idea was simple; the same hands that had manufactured the new beer wrote a 1001 letters to the 1001 most relevant people in Argentina telling them that the old Quilmes had returned. From the President to known actors, musicians and athletes, all recipients of letters from our master brewer together with the first 1001 bottles of the new Quilmes Clásica.

Dimotta was joined by additional master brewers who spoke, in videos, about the change. No one better to demonstrate our quest to be the best beer that most people can enjoy.

"The beer is not what it used to be” people kept saying. 57% of our consumers felt that the brand was not the same as before and even worse, 85% said that the reason was the beer.

As a result of a company deep-dive, we discovered, together with the brand team, that the beverage had undergone small changes over the years and that indeed the beer was not the same. For a long time, the focus had been on the quantity and not on the quality of the beer. The people were right.

Mindful of the fact that we are the most important beer in the country and that our roots are working-class, our mission is to be the best beer that the majority of people can enjoy. And judging by what people said, we had stopped being the best beer for them.

We had to change and so we did what people were screaming for: We went back to our original recipe. Preservative-free. A beer made in Argentina, by local people, with 100% natural and Argentine ingredients

Our goal was clear, to be proud of who we are and also of what we do and how we do it.

The results obtained showed that not only did this launch impact positively, compared to the previous year, on variables such as "tasty" (+ 2pts), "superior quality" (+ 3pts) and "goes well with meals" (+ 2pts); but also on those numbers we believed were impossible to turn around. Since its October 2017 launch, sales rose above targets for the first time in 10 years. Something unprecedented: in the month of February 2018, the improvement was such that it exceeded the company’s country sales by 2 points.

We know we are on the right track, but we are not at our destination yet, rather we are at the starting point in our quest to return the brand to the place it deserves: at the table of all the Argentines.