Yesterday I wrote about my confusions over Vaseline’s brand positioning, and today I would like to turn to Tiger Beer, a prominent local brand in Singapore (and one I consumer fairly regularly). Although I drink the brand regularly, I have never been clear on what the brand stood for, and having looked back over recent advertising campaigns, I can see why I might be confused.

Around 2012, Tiger Beer launched a new campaign around ‘social drinking’ and ‘parties’ (see above) with a couple of executions which focused on the social side of drinking (a very common theme in beer advertising).  TVCs included the “Tiger Beer Singapore Neighbour” (click to see in YouTube) and “Tiger Beer The Heist” (ditto). Both of these executions are in the area of the Joker and Everyman archetypes, with elements of fun and especially focused on the importance of belonging.

Then last year, Tiger Beer launched the “Uncage” campaign, based around Rebel archetypes and stories about people who have pushed through to follow their own passions and find Freedom.  TVCs include a story around Joey Pang (a tattoo artist) and Anthony Chen (a filmmaker). These are interesting figures for the brand to associate with, as Rebels are not always very sociable.

Finally, a few weeks ago I first noticed Tiger Beer’s poster campaign around the Singapore 50th anniversary, focusing on the brand’s heritage (and emphasising it’s prestige and quality). This makes sense in terms of connecting to the local scene, and goes back to previous advertising campaigns over 10 years ago which focused on the brand’s heritage and quality. But can you be prestige (the Ruler) and be a Rebel too?

If you put these different positionings on the StoryWorks emotional framework, they look something like this:

So does Tiger Beer follow the rules, or does the brand want to be an outlaw? Is it all about connecting and belonging with other people, or about shaping your own individual destiny and being free to be yourself? Is it about the seriousness of quality or the fun of the party?

I’ll let you decide and would be interested to hear what you think.