A Move Up For Beer
March 1, 2006
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A Move Up For Beer
Sarah Theodore
Editor
A move up for beer
The U.S. beer industry has
struggled for several years against competition
from wine and spirits, but the past few months have shown that the big
brewers are ready for a change. I recently attended the Nightclub & Bar
show in Las Vegas and saw a number of examples of the ways brewers are
attempting to redefine their products.
Living up to his reputation for being a
straight-shooter, Miller Brewing Co. Chief Executive Officer Norman Adami
addressed the audience of bar and nightclub operators, saying the industry
was guilty of too much “sameness.” Brewers, he said, had
created too many of the same products and advertised them in the same way
for too long. Even more important, he said there was too much of a specific
kind of sameness — male-oriented advertising that used base humor to
appeal to the lowest common denominator.
With the aid of a video montage of beer advertising,
including ads from his own company, Adami wryly said he “can’t
imagine why anyone would get the impression that beer is less sophisticated
and more down-market than wine and spirits.” Such marketing, he said,
had made beer look like the “official drink of the
knucklehead.”
Just as the beer industry was headed in this
direction, consumer trends took a turn in the opposite. Demand was
increasing for “mainstream sophistication,” and products from
beverages to blue jeans were differentiating themselves by allowing
consumers to personalize their purchases.
Miller is turning the trend with more upscale
positioning for Miller Genuine Draft, calling it “Beer. Grown Up,” and premium imagery for several other brands. The
company used the Academy Awards to launch
the MGD campaign — yet another example of change, as the Oscars
arguably have a larger female audience than male.
For its part,
Anheuser-Busch used last month’s Super Bowl broadcast to launch
“Here’s to Beer,” an initiative created in conjunction
with the Beer Institute, to play up beer’s social value and lack of
pretension. Consumers were directed to a Web site that featured beer facts,
product guides and recipes for cocktails made
with beer. At the show in Las Vegas, A-B featured its new Peels malt beverage for women, as well as fruit-flavored
“shots” meant to be mixed with beer for customized flavor
options.
These may be great ideas, but perceptions will take a while to change, even within the industry. For example,
the Miller ads that drew the biggest response from the audience during
Adami’s address were the new Milwaukee’s Best ads, which the
company kept more traditional, calling the brand “a beer brewed for a
man’s taste.” In the ads, men showing their more feminine side
are crushed by cans of Milwaukee’s Best.
In the brewers’ favor, the two beer segments
that continue to grow are craft and import beers, indicating that going
upscale works for beer. In addition, women have been largely responsible
for the popularity of wine and spirits, and they are finally being factored
into beer marketing. But it’s going to take a lot of education to
redefine beer, for both consumers and the
industry as a whole. BI
Sneak Peek
| APRIL |
| Cover profile — Bravo! Foods International Annual Beer report |
| Beverage R&D — IFT preview |
| Packaging — Primary packaging trends |
| Special Supplement — Beverage Product Guide |
| MAY |
| Special packaging issue |
| Category focus — Wine & spirits |
| Beverage R&D — Energy ingredients |
| Packaging — Package design |
| Distribution — Driver meetings |
