With summer fast approaching various alcohol brands are doing their best to market themselves in the lead-up.
From million pound rebrands, to new low alcohol and low calorie products, the likes of Corona, Asahi and Heineken are running various campaigns to catch the attention of British drinkers.
Last May, an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report found that the average Brit drinks around 4.4 pints of beer or 2.3 bottles of wine each week. This number typically rises when the sun comes out and the skies clear up.
So what are alcohol brands doing to capitalise on this?
Marketing Beat takes a look at some of the biggest alcohol names and delves into the various campaigns being rolled out across the UK.
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‘Drink the G.O.A.T’: Strongbow’s Ultra Dark Fruit
Last month, Strongbow unveiled its biggest ever £12 million marketing campaign for its new low-calorie cider Ultra Dark Fruit, telling consumers to ‘Drink the G.O.A.T’.
The eccentric and slightly absurd video, created by marketing agency Otherway, features a purple goat nodding its head to garage music, toying with the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ G.O.A.T abbreviation.
The campaign marks the Heineken-owned Strongbow brand’s first venture into low calorie alcoholic beverages. The 4% fruity cider has a low 95 kcal count and is hailed as being “refreshingly light” while emulating the taste of the “familiar” Strongbow Dark Fruit flavour.
Heineken UK cider brand director Rachel Holms claimed that generation Y and Z consumers want to buy alcoholic drinks that fit with their “desire to lead more balanced lifestyles”.
Holms added: “With 59% of consumers looking for lighter choices when shopping and 60% of Brits saying taste is the most important factor when buying a drink, there is a clear gap in the market for a lower calorie, flavourful cider, which ULTRA fills.”
The oddly unique campaign, featuring the DJ Sammy Virji track, ‘Daga Da’, is sure to capture the attention of consumers looking for a fruity light drink this summer.
Corona Tropical and its ‘pickable’ fruit billboard
Earlier this month, Corona installed a real ‘pickable’ fruit billboard in London to celebrate the launch of the brand’s new low-calorie sparkling fruit drink Corona Tropical.
Following in the footsteps of Strongbow, this is Corona’s first lightly sparkling alcohol drink and has a strength of 4.5% ABV, containing less than 100 calories.
Debuting in London alongside the launch of the product, the immersive billboard gives members of the public the chance to pick fruit straight from the ad and enjoy a slice in their own Corona Tropical sample.
The AB InBev-owned drink company claimed that, according to Research and Markets, the global alcoholic infused sparkling water market size is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 12% over the next several years.
“We’re excited to offer a new Corona beverage to those who love the brand but are looking for options outside of beer,” Corona global vice president Felipe Ambra said.
Hopefully, with Covid19 rates lowering, consumers won’t continue to associate the drink with the pandemic this summer.
Kingfisher’s £1m re-brand
Indian Lager brand Kingfisher announced a £1 million brand refresh earlier this week, creating a modernised and more premium look for the beer label.
The ‘look up and see the beauty’ campaign intends to appeal to a wider UK audience, expanding on the success the brand has found in Indian restaurants, by including revamped outer packaging and labels, new glassware, a typography change and point-of-sale materials for on-trade.
The Bangalore-based beer company wishes to expand upon the 65% growth it has achieved since 2019 and continue to sell at major events such as Bestival, the Isle of Wight Festival and Taste of London.
“Kingfisher is a brand that so many consumers are already aware of and enjoy, so we’re confident they will love the re-brand and be delighted to increasingly find it stocked in their local pub, supermarket or convenience store, as well as their favourite Indian restaurant,” KBE Drinks chief operating officer, Shaun Goode said.
Perhaps the beer label will begin to compete with the likes of Cobra this summer.
Asahi’s biggest-ever integrated campaign
Earlier this week, Japanese beer brand Asahi, unveiled it largest-ever integrated marketing campaign, rolling out advertisements across TV, video-on-demand, audio, digital and out-of-home channels.
Collaborating with brand platform Beyond Expected, the brand’s campaign intends to focus on how Asahi Super Dry subverts consumer expectations of what a beer should taste like and will highlight the beverage’s “unique super dry” quality.
Boosting its sales value by up to £4 million at the end of March this year, Asahi is reportedly growing at 110% across retail outlets this year, according to Nielsen sales data.
“The world we live in has changed and this is reflective in the way consumers are seeking enriching drinking experiences, both in and out of the home,” Asahi UK global brands director, Jonathan Norman said.
It will be interesting to see how the brand fairs against its Asian counterparts, Singha, Tiger and Kingfisher this summer.
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Peroni Nastro Azzuro 0.0%
Earlier this year the Italian beer brand joined the likes of Heineken and Stella Artois in producing an alcohol-free beer for drinkers across the world.
The ‘Back to Zero”‘ campaign, lead by Trouble Maker and Unbound Creative, featured on TV, VOD, online and out-of-home (OOH) platforms, encouraging drinkers to “live every moment” and swap out alcohol for Peroni Nastro Azzuro 0.0%.
“The world of beer is changing,” Asahi Europe and International global brands director, Richard Ingram, said.
“With an expected global growth of 8% across the non-alcoholic beer category in the next five years, the world has been waiting for a more premium offering.
“The ‘Live Every Moment’ campaign that we roll out globally from this week encapsulates what consumers want; the highest quality product and an aspirational image, to make a 0.0% choice a positive one.”
According to Statista, the market for non-alcoholic beer is expected to grow by 9.5% by 2023.
Though Peroni is relatively late to the non-alcoholic beer party, this summer could prove to be highly profitable for the lager brand.
Stella Artois’ raunchy Unfiltered launch
Yesterday, Stella Artois unveiled its new Unfiltered lager, promoting the product in a raunchy campaign spanning across digital, TV, OOH, print and social.
Dreamt up by creative agency Mother London, the fully integrated campaign toys with the ‘Beer, au naturel’ tagline of the product by showing people living in a European town in the nude.
Collaborating with director Autumn De Wilde and Anonymous Content, the 30-second film depicts the nudists enjoying pints of Stella Artois Unfiltered. The Belgian beer brand has called it “golden lager in its purest form”, as the lack of filtration allows its original flavours to break through.
“Not many people know that beer originally wasn’t filtered,” Stella Artois Europe senior brand manager Meg Chadwick said.
“Our campaign ‘Beer, au naturel’ speaks to the truth of our naturally unfiltered beer: a lager in its most natural form. A beer as fresh and flavoursome as this, deserves a truly unmissable campaign – so why not showcase the beauty of being real, authentic and ‘au naturel’?’’
It will be interesting to see how this new Stella Artois product fairs with beer lovers this summer. Hopefully members of the public will keep their clothes on when drinking it though!
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