Beyond the can: V Energy launches online merchandise store with help of street artist Mr G Hoete —UPDATED

V Energy’s latest campaign sees the company moving beyond guarana-infused beverages into streetwear, with the launch of a new range one-of-kind T-shirts designed by street artist Mr G Hoete.  

Selling for $20 apiece, the T-shirts can be bought at the V Store website, which was developed by Brandspanking.

Mr G Hoete, a street artist, spray-painted a wall covered with white T shirts to create a V energy mural and produce a number of T shirts all carrying a different component of the larger mural.

As explained on the website: “We wanted to kick off V Store in style and not just roll out run-of-the-mill merch. So we got in touch with one of New Zealand’s best graffiti artists, Mr. G. He covered a wall in downtown Auckland with white tees and got to work producing a mural over the top. Fuelled by V, he worked late into the night creating an epic graffiti mural. Once he was done, we were left with 200 one of a kind V graffiti tees. Get in quick to shotgun your favourite design as they will sell out faster than that flash chocolate milk.”  

The concept for Graffiti Tees came after the team at V Energy approached Beat about launching an online store.

“V Energy frequently gets requests for branded clothing from our fans and wanted to provide a place for them to get their hands on some” says V Energy senior brand manager John Alexander.

Beat’s creative project director Richard Brewer says that the store isn’t just a temporary stunt and that V Energy will be adding further products in 2016, as well as running a few additional promos.    

Brewer says that Beat and V wanted to launch to attract the attention of the core target market, which is why Hoete was brought in for the launch campaign. 

“After a nationwide search, we approached Graham Hoete aka Mr. G, one of New Zealand’s top street artists. We challenged him to take everything that makes V awesome and produce an artwork on the side of a building in Britomart, in downtown Auckland.”

Brewer says that the live aspect of campaign proved popular among spectators.

“Throughout the day and into the night, crowds of people gathered to watch Mr. G work and they even interacted with him, asking questions or taking selfies. It is one thing to run a good activation it is another to create good content off the back of it. Knowing that this content would be pivotal to the store launch, we approached Frontside who worked alongside Mr. G throughout the night to produce the impressive hyper-laps video content.”

Hoete’s other work illustrates an eclectic sort of sensibility including portraits of NWA rapper Eazy E and rugby legend Jonah Lomu as well as one piece of work hinting at a possibility for the next hero for Gotham city after Christian Bale hangs up his cape.

V has established a reputation as a cool company for its off the wall and edgy  campaigns which, just this year, included a competition between TV funny men Jono and Ben called Jono V Ben where fans could choose which can they preferred – one bearing the image of Jono Pryor or Ben Boyce.

Showing the spirit of collegiality the two pranksters are known for, Jono Pryor even helped advertise Ben Boyce’s V can which apparently after one sip would have you saying, “Jono’s a dick”.

This reporter hasn’t sampled Jono or Ben’s V but here’s hoping that their respective offerings were easier on the taste buds than the repulsive options Ben subjected an unsuspecting Jono to in a piece for the pair’s TV show.