The creation of a Brazilian beer brand with national ambition — positioned between premium nationals and imports, built with proprietary packaging, high-impact communication and scalable regional distribution.
Cerveja Proibida was born in one of Brazil's most difficult markets: brewing. At the turn of the 2000s to the 2010s, the sector was dominated by large groups, with brands of massive distribution capillarity, heavy media investment and consolidated logistics. To enter this market required more than a good beverage — it required a strong name, memorable packaging, pricing strategy, intelligent distribution and creative courage.
Proibida was born inside the Companhia Brasileira de Bebidas Premium — CBBP, founded in 2008 in Pindoretama (CE) by João Carlos Noronha and partners, including Lucas Albuquerque, with initial investment of R$ 120 million. The proposal was to compete with a Brazilian beer inspired by Czech pilsners, positioned as an alternative between premium national beers and imports. The launch took place in 2011, with the slogan "Libera a Proibida".5 million hectoliters per year.
Proibida was not designed merely as another beer. It was created as a brand of rupture in a category dominated by giants. The thesis was to occupy an intermediate space — a beer with premium perception, proprietary aesthetics and international inspiration, but with pricing and distribution capable of dialoguing with the Brazilian consumer.
In a highly concentrated market, a new brand needed to be born with three simultaneous forces: a product with origin narrative (the Czech pilsner reference created territory of quality and brewing tradition), a name with cultural tension ("Proibida" — Forbidden — was provocative, memorable, with popular energy) and a campaign with high conversational power. The Czech Girls campaign — Michaela and Dominika, presented as tourists on Pânico na TV and later revealed as brand ambassadors — turned the launch into a national topic, with more than 170,000 Twitter followers before the reveal, around 40 films across teasers, vignettes and commercials, and R$ 2 million in media investment.
While traditional brands competed for frequency, media and sponsorship, Proibida sought to compete for cultural attention. The strategic reading must be balanced: the case was powerful in awareness, but also revealed the risks of ambush actions when cultural attention advances faster than institutional, legal and reputational governance.
Lucas acted as founder of CBBP and statutory director, participating in the construction of the company, the brand and the Proibida launch strategy. His role extended from the initial thesis to packaging, from positioning to commercial policy, from the articulation between product, communication and channel to the construction of the brand's public narrative. Not merely a marketing executive, but a brand builder in one of the country's most competitive categories. In 2013, CBBP was sold to entrepreneur Nelson Morizono, closing the founding cycle of the brand.
