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marketing

Brand Extensions We Have Known

In the nearly five years we’ve been blogging, we’ve seen big brewers launch all kinds of spin-offs, usually with TV advertising and much public-relations brouhaha. Here are a few of our favourites and updates on what became of them.

Stella Artois Black (2010-present)

The big problem with this one is that it isn’t bloody black. Budvar Dark (still with us…) is dark; Guinness Red (see below) was red (kinda); Stella Black was… golden, just like normal Stella. In addition, it suffered the fate of most lager brand extensions: being sold on an aesthetic and an ‘experience’ which the real world British pub couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver, as Pete Brown memorably recorded here. Still with us, technically, although we don’t recall seeing it in the wild.

Artois Bock (2005-2008) and Eiken Artois (2008)

Two attempts to create a strong variant of Stella Artois. Why didn’t these take off? Because they were too posh and expensive for Special Brew drinkers and too tainted by the wife-beater brand for the la-di-dah crowd. Which imaginary niche were they aiming at? The alky wanting to treat himself on a special occasion?

Peeterman Artois (2007-2008)

See Artois Black, above: fancy glass, fancy serving ritual and cod-French marketing undermined by the actual experience of drinking it in pubs. Stella 4% (basically the same product) seems to be doing OK, though. Perhaps it was just the introduction of this dubious sounding Peeterman feller that did for it? Given that everyone calls it “Stella”, it seems odd to try to extend the “Artois” bit of the brand.

Kronenbourg Blanc (2006-?)

Not such a bad idea — launch a beer to steal a bit of Hoegaarden’s market using an established brand name — but something about the execution didn’t work. For a start, no-one defines themselves as a Kronenbourg drinker — it’s just what Stella drinkers go for when pushed, or if they’re actually in France — so the ‘familiar brand’ isn’t worth much. Secondly, it just didn’t taste enough like Hoegaarden, being sweeter and too overtly citrusy. Why didn’t they just outright clone HG? Someone (a ‘normal’) brought a four pack of this to a party at our house, drank one, pulled a face, and left it. We eventually threw out the remaining bottles last year.

Foster’s Twist (2006-2009?)

Foster’s is sold on the basis of its Australianness, which supposedly means it’s relaxed, laid-back, informal, a bit cheeky, and generally conforms to national stereotypes. Corona, meanwhile, is sold as quintissentially Mexican — relaxed, laid-back, informal, good at dancing, slightly skunked, and with a bit of lime sticking out of it. Foster’s, wanting a piece of that market, made an advert (see above) which showed Australians were also good at dancing, got some clear bottles, and put some ‘citrus hops’ in the beer. Lime lovers, nonplussed by the mention of hops and the absence of actual fruit peel, kept drinking Corona; Foster’s lovers kept drinking Foster’s… as you were, nothing to see here.

Guinness Red (2007)

For years, you hammer home this message: Guinness=black, Guinness=black, Guinness=black… then suddenly, you launch a red version. Confusing and contrary, but at least it wasn’t Guinness Blanc. (Hey, that’s not a bad idea…) It wasn’t really red, either — just a bit lighter in colour. Sort of brown, really, but they couldn’t call it that. Once again, it did nothing to tempt new customers, and gave those who already drank Guinness no reason to switch. Did not get beyond ‘test marketing’ in the UK.

Carling C2 (2006-?)

This created a bit of a buzz. When everyone else was going for a 4% variant (Becks Vier being the most successful, as far as we can tell), Carling upped the ante (or downed it?) by introducing a 2% beer. The only time we saw anyone try to order one, he was mocked and derided until he agreed to have a normal Carling. If only real blokes were as tolerant as those square-jawed, skinny, nicely tailored lads they had in the adverts.

We haven’t mentioned every Ice, Cold, Super Cold, Extra Cold and Extra Icy. It’s too early to know what will become of Animée but, suffice to say, we find it’s very existence baffling. Apparently, Foster’s Lukewarm is on the way next year, along with Stella Green. (It’s yellow.)

Categories
marketing

The Hay-on-Wye of Beer?

Kelham Island Tavern (sign), Sheffield

Hay-on-Wye is a small market town on the border between England and Wales famous for its thirty or so bookshops. Since the 1970s, those bookshops, and then the literary events they’ve attracted, have helped Hay prosper. Without them, it would receive a fraction of its current number of visitors.

We don’t think there’s quite an equivalent ‘beer town UK’, but Sheffield springs to mind as a possible contender.

It has more than its fair share of great pubs and breweries: we’ve found that, there more than any other UK city we’ve visited, an ordinary looking pub chosen at without prior research will turn out to be selling something we can get excited about.

Has anyone measured the impact on beer tourism on Sheffield’s economy? Has the City Council considered actively promoting Sheffield as a destination for beer lovers?

With a little work, it could it be Britain’s Beervana. As it is, anyone visiting the UK looking for good beer should certainly aim to spend a day or two there.

Let us know if there are other candidates we’ve missed. Burton, perhaps, has a greater entitlement.

Categories
marketing opinion

Cheap Beer Challenge

Earlier this week, Keith Flett suggests a solution to the vexing problem of the sometimes worryingly high price of some craft beer: as we read it, he is asking craft brewers to challenge themselves on price and brew at least one ‘people’s pint’.

As has been established, we’re weird: we’re already beer zealots — extremists, if you like — and prioritise buying good beer above many other luxuries in our lives. So, to us, there aren’t many beers which don’t seem affordable; we don’t need convincing that there is a connection between price and quality; and we’re certainly not arguing for craft brewers and bars to cut costs across the board. Generally, we admire their tendency to brew for flavour and worry about price later.

The fact is, though, that for some people, price is an issue through necessity rather than choice. Can anything be done to make sure they aren’t excluded from craft beer? Just one beer? Or do we simply have to accept a ‘them and us’ culture?

Here are some ideas off the top of our heads, in brainstorm mode.

1. The Sainsbury’s Basics model
Sainsbury’s supermarket has a range of economy products in simple packaging, just as all the others do, but their clever gimmick is transparency. They say things like “Basics Cucumber — just as green, watery and likely to give you indigestion, but slightly bent” or “Basics Onions — not uniform sizes, but just as likely to make you cry”. This could also work for beer, e.g. “A simple recipe with only pale malt to let the hops shine through”.

2. Inspired by Macrobrewers
Several breweries in different parts of the country could work together to brew the same beer for their respective markets, saving on distribution costs, but sharing the costs of sales, branding and publicity. As a bonus, the savvy punter gets to enjoy the regional variations.

3. Learning from History
Big brewers have always focused on hitting fixed price points. Look at Ron Pattinson and Kristen England’s 1909 Style Guide and one thing that leaps out is how much sugar, corn, rice, Soylent Green and other adjuncts were used in beers before World War I. Kristen has made and tasted all of those beers and, for the most part, enjoyed them. Once again, if made with care, marketed transparently, and presented as a history lesson, adjunct-laden beers could still be craft beer.

4. Play Ball with the Government
The Government wants brewers to make weaker beers and is giving tax breaks to those who do so. The threshold is 2.8%, which sounds disastrously low, until you consider the success of Brodie’s Citra (which is universally admired) at 3.1%. We like weaker beers because we can drink more of them in a session, and the success of GK IPA suggests that many ‘normal’ punters do, to.  (Many brewers are already taking this challenge, of course.)

5. Loss leaders
Sam Smith’s pubs draw people in with the offer of cheap beer but make money from people ‘upgrading’, hence the massive difference between the price of a pint of Old Brewery and a pint of Pure Brewed Lager. Given that most craft beer customers don’t choose on price, would offering one beer at or near cost be such a problem, if it meant drawing in new custom and expanding the market? Which leads us to…

6. A Tax on Beer Zealots
A few ludicrously, deliberately over-priced, over-packaged limited editions beers at the other end of the range could subsidise a ‘people’s pint’ — a kind of tax on craft beer zealots, which many would gladly accept if it meant (a) that they got an interesting beer for their money and (b) it helped to spread the word.

Any more, better ideas?

Note: It goes without saying that our ideas above are poorly thought through, that we’ve missed the point, that they won’t work, etc..

Categories
Generalisations about beer culture marketing

Five Types of Beer Drinker

Like any other, the market for beer in the UK makes much more sense if divided up into segments rather than viewed as a monolithic block. Breweries, pubs and bars who know exactly which groups they’re targeting will do much better than those who spare it no thought.

We wish we had the time and money to do this more rigorously, but here’s our off-the-cuff attempt to identify some distinct groups based on our own observations.

1. COST-AWARE ENTHUSIASTS
Passionate about good beer but factor cost into their judgement about what ‘good’ means. For them, expensive beers leave a  bad taste, however well made. Tend to believe that there are great beers to be had at a reasonable price and generally stick to drinking them.

2. ZEALOTS
Nothing is more important than drinking good beer. The cost of a particular beer is not a factor in their choice, even if that means spending more money than they can really afford to. Like to try new or unusual beers. Struggle to empathise with other groups.

3. TREND FOLLOWERS
Drink beer because there is a buzz around it at the moment. Turned off by the idea of ‘real ale’, but excited about ‘craft beer’. Not especially loyal to beer and may well be drinking more wine or cider in two years time.

4. LOOKING AFTER THE PENNIES
Driven solely by price. Know where to find the cheapest pint in town and pay little attention to its flavour. Not particularly loyal to any one brand or type of beer, but may broadly identify themselves as either lager or bitter drinkers. More interested in the pleasure of being in a pub than in beer itself.

5. BOOZERS
Drink beer as a means to an end. As well as beer, likely to drink spirits, shots and other drinks on a night out. Usually choose beer based on brand recognition but may take beer strength and price into account if information is displayed.

Notes

  • Some people might belong to more than one group depending on who they’re socialising with or the occasion. Zealots might easily become Boozers on a night out with colleagues, for example, or become Cost Aware Enthusiasts if their financial circumstances change.
  • Trend Followers are particularly interesting. Any business based on their custom needs to think about what to do if it disappears.
  • Our evidence for this segmentation is… nothing. If you want this done properly, pay someone.
  • We’re Zealots with increasing tendencies towards cost awareness.
Categories
Blogging and writing marketing

Public Relations Outreach Strategy

Apologies to people who aren’t interested in this kind of behind-the-scenes nonsense. Normal beery service will resume tomorrow.

We updated our permanent “Hey, PR people!” page today with the intention of making it more helpful and a bit less bad-tempered. (It’s still slightly grumpy.)

We get quite a lot of emails from marketing agencies and, when we email them back to explain why we’re not acting on their press release or whatever, we often end up having some interesting conversations with intelligent, pleasant people.

That’s what makes it all the more frustrating that so many of them are wasting time and money on activities that will never lead us to write about their product. They could get our attention without spending much at all, with just a bit more thought, and a better understanding of how beer bloggers operate.

For the next bit of our PR-outreach strategy, we’re going to to try to “segment the audience”: beer blogs are not the same as, say, cake blogs; and not all beer blogs are the same. We’ve spotted the following types so far, sometimes in combination.

  1. Send me a bottle, I’ll review it.
  2. I’m a proper writer/journalist, blogging is a sideline.
  3. I’d like to be a writer/journalist: this is my pitch.
  4. I’m a brewer/salesperson/landlord and want to promote my business.
  5. I’m a brewer/salesperson/landlord and want to set these amateurs straight.
  6. I’m blogging for conversation and to express myself.
  7. I’ve got an obsessive-compulsive tendency and want to record every pub I visit/beer I drink.

Each of those probably requires different handling for effective engagement from PR people who want them to bite.