With Tanui Bui, Director of Marketing Excellence & Delivery
Tania Bui didn’t shy away from the messy bits. Speaking to a packed room at Trinity Wharf, the Director of Marketing Excellence & Delivery at Frucor Suntory, took us through the 21-year journey of V Energy — the wins, the missteps, and the uncomfortable truths hidden behind years of big budgets.
‘V’ launched in the late ’90s as a fast follower to Red Bull and quickly became a cultural staple. With catchy campaigns and rapid innovation thanks to local manufacturing, the brand dominated its category for years. But as Tania put it, “A lot of money hides a lot of sins,” and by the time V hit its 21st birthday, the cracks were showing. Consumer attitudes were shifting, sugar scrutiny was rising, and internally, the basics had slipped.
The team discovered they’d built a sales force that had never actually needed to sell, and when the market got tougher, the skill gaps were obvious. At the same time, the marketing team was busy launching endless flavours and quirky campaigns — fun, but not necessarily effective. They were, in Tania’s words, “doing stuff that didn’t count.”
In 2017/18, Frucor Suntory hit pause. No new products, no new campaigns — just a hard look at what had gone wrong. The answer? They’d drifted from their core consumer. Reconnecting meant going back to insights, asking “why” before anything else, and giving the brand team space to think rather than simply do.
Today, V is rebuilding with Gen Z in mind — focusing on empowerment rather than inadequacy, showing up where their audience actually is, and simplifying the product range to strengthen connection.
Top takeaways:
Remember the basics
You are not your target audience
Longterm brand building beats short term stunts