2006–07 Ashes series. The promotion included former England cricket captain Ian Botham as a talking figure, who would interact alongside an updated David Boon figure. For the 2007–08 Australian cricket series, Shane Warne took over as VB spokesperson from David Boon. Warne also had a talking figurine as part of a Warnie promotion, taking over from the highly successful Talking Boony dolls from the two previous Boonanza promotions. On 6 July 2011, Foster's released VB packaged in limited edition 1958 heritage cans. The packaging had the original artwork of the 1958 VB product, but also included a standard ring pull on each can, something which was lacking on the original. VB has invested heavily in sponsorships of Australian rugby league. It is currently the official beer of the NRL, the naming rights sponsor for NRL Friday Night Football and the main sponsor of the Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos. Victoria Bitter was also the main sponsor of the Australian Tri-Series for five years between 2001–02 and 2005–06. During this time the series was renamed The VB Series. Victoria Bitter were sponsors the away Test, ODI and Twenty20 teams for the Australia national cricket team from 2008 tountil 2014. In 2013, Cricket Australia agreed to remove the logo of Muslim cricketer Fawad Ahmed's uniform due to his faith's ban on alcohol. The previous advertising campaign was called the Stubby Symphony, where 100 members of the Melbourne and Victorian orchestras play the theme from The Magnificent Seven only using VB beer bottles. The campaign was created by George Patterson Y&R in Melbourne. VB launched a new advertising campaign in Australia in July 2009 to coincide with the SBS television broadcast of the 2009 The Ashes cricket series. They will drop the famous tag "For a hard earned thirst.." for "VB – The Drinking Beer". See also Australian pub Beer in Australia List of breweries in Australia References External links Official VB Website Official product webpage Australian beer brands Foster's Group Culture in Victoria (Australia) Food and drink companies established in 1854 1854 establishments in Australia Asahi Breweries