30 April 2015 morningadvertiser.co.uk

12 Events: Beer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation Summit

30 April 2015

Cheer for beer at PMA summit

The key to marketing success for beer brands is having a clear and passionate message and encouraging drinkers to “join a cause”.

That was the message from the man behind many of BrewDog’s high-profile PR campaigns.

Having worked with the controversial craft brewer since its infancy, Alex Myers, managing director of agency Manifest London, said: “BrewDog wanted to be anti-establishment and still is. It’s this passion that made BrewDog famous among people who were already into the beer scene. But it also resonated with people who were turning up to pubs and seeing the same four taps in every place and didn’t really think very much about the beer that was coming out of them.”

BrewDog last week announced

‘Get people to join your cause’

plans to raise a further £25m to fund the expansion of its brewery and new bars across the UK, as well as a “craft beer hotel” near its HQ outside of Aberdeen.

Myers reminded the marketers and brewers in the room that campaigns needed to excite the same kind of passion in a product to gain followers, as well as those that would go on to become ambassadors of the brand.

“BrewDog knew why it existed. But this wasn’t really marketing about beer at all. It wasn’t even saying ‘we just exist as an alternative to those [other brands]’ and it was saying ‘there’s a new future and you can be a part of it’.”

Myers added: “If people join a cause, they don’t disappear — they stay.”

BrewDog’s marketing stunts have included driving a tank down London’s Camden High Street to mark its bar opening,

projecting naked images onto the Houses of Parliament, and mocking Russian president Vladimir Putin with a specially brewed beer.

“Every revolution is born with passion and everything we do is about making people passionate about the cause. BrewDog is always talking about why they are there in the first place — to change things.”

plans to raise a further £25m to

“BrewDog knew why it existed. But this wasn’t really marketing about beer at all. It wasn’t even saying ‘we just exist as an alternative to those [other brands]’ and it was saying ‘there’s a new future and you can be a part of it’.”

a cause, they don’t disappear — they stay.”

down London’s Camden High Street to mark its bar opening,

projecting naked images onto

Rebel with a cause:

Alex Myers

2015

The annual Beer Innovation Summit, hosted by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, took place in Birmingham last week. The event featured presentations from top industry figures as well as insight from leading brewers and marketing experts, alongside a number of interactive sessions designed to get people thinking differently about beer. The summit was attended by senior decision makers across the category

The beer is the music.The glass is the speaker Stephen McGraw, Riedel UK

Partnered byOrganised by

morningadvertiser.co.uk30 April 2015

Brewers and pub retailers have a golden opportunity worth a huge £1.6bn to expand the beer market, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

The consumer research group’s head of alcohol Kevan Mulcahey pointed out that, currently, beer, as a category, runs the risk of limiting its appeal to new consumers because typical pub beer drinkers are older men.

“We have identified three key core areas in need of development that offer great opportunities for beer in the on-trade: food occasions, young men and the female

‘Pubs must seize beer opportunity’

market,” said Mulcahey.On the subject of food, Mulcahey

said that the proportion of men and women that drink beer when eating a meal drops drastically, meaning there is an opportunity for pubs to encourage beer

drinking throughout the course of a meal through food matching and not just as an aperitif.

When it comes to young men, he said: “Another finding shows that young men are also less interested in beer.

“Among 18 to 24-year-olds, beer’s share of repertoire is a third lower than it is for total male drinkers.

“This can be changed by tapping into high-tempo

occasions where speers (spirit beers) have seen success.”

The final area of opportunity is the female market, according to Kantar’s research.

Women don’t consider beer as much as other they do other drinks, mainly because of the way

it is marketed, preferring spirits, particularly vodka. Women also influence the drinking habits of men around them, with men often eschewing beer for other categories in mixed-sex occasions.

“Womens’ influence is especially key in growing the market,” said Mulcahay.

“Get it right and the impact is twofold; more female drinkers leading to incremental business, as well as a greater acceptance of beer so that men feel more comfortable drinking it in the presence of females. There is a big size of the prize: our estimates are conservative, but amount to about £1.6bn.”

drinking throughout the course of a meal through food matching and not just as an aperitif.

he said: “Another finding shows that young men are also less interested in beer.

beer’s share of repertoire is a third lower than it is for total male drinkers.

tapping into high-tempo occasions where speers (spirit

Development: Kevan Mulcahey

14 Events: Beer Innovation Summit

What do Norwegians like? Frozen pizza and money. So I brewed a beer with pizza and dry hopped it with KroneMike Murphy, Lervig

We wanted BrewDog to be to beer what punk was to musicAlex Myers, Manifest London

morningadvertiser.co.uk30 April 2015

Dougal Sharp, founder and chief executive of Innis & Gunn told delegates the story of how he stumbled upon the brewer’s famous oak-aged beer that is now exported to more than 20 countries worldwide.

He was approached by whisky maker Grant’s to produce a beer that would be used to flavour barrels to give the whisky a different taste. The used beer didn’t get thrown away and was drunk by the workers, who reported that the oak barrels had completely transformed its flavour.

Grant’s and Sharp embarked on a joint venture in 2003 to produce and sell the beer, and Innis & Gunn was born. While the beer was discovered by accident, the business has grown to become Scotland’s largest independent brewer.

The company has now innovated with different spirits and styles as well as its first

‘Let’s change the image of beer’

lager. “We’ve had great fun along the way,” said Sharp. “Our industry does need to innovate but it always need to be done with the consumer in mind.”

Sharp said the sector should do more to talk beer up as a low-strength alcoholic drink. “It p****s me off when I see another newspaper article about the benefits of wine that is based on dubious evidence. The biggest innovation we can deliver is to change the image of beer for ever and get rid of the negative stereotypes of the past.”

be used to flavour barrels to give

Lose negativity:

Dougal Sharp

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) identified how crucial it was for the sector to present a united front to keep pubs and beer in the minds of politicians following next month’s general election.

BBPA director of public affairs David Wilson said: “I think the challenge is to put beer and pubs on the election agenda and keep it there. It’s an opportunity for all of us to demonstrate £22bn worth of economic value that the industry brings to our economy and the fact that we, as an industry, support more than 900,000 jobs.”

Wilson said the past five years had been “eventful”, but the coalition Government had proved itself to be “pub-friendly” with a hat-trick of beer duty cuts, support for pubs on business rates and employment costs, as well planning reform.

“We have, as an industry, been speaking with one voice and made some significant changes. I believe that we can

Talk up the industry’s value’

communicate the revitalisation of the beer and pub sector. We have ended the beer duty escalator; we’ve seen historic reductions too, but there is still a lot to do. We need to make sure that the new MPs are fully aware of the importance and significance of our industry.”

Wilson said a number of “beer champion” MPs were contesting marginal seats, including current community pubs minister Kris Hopkins. Regardless of the outcome of the election, he called on the next government to retain the pubs ministry because it had proved a key role for the sector in Whitehall.

Keep lobbying:

David Wilson

It’s still the case that many pubs don’t serve beer in the right way in terms of glassware and presentationMike Benner, SIBA

I fight people online who give their beers sexist names because it is damaging for both men and womenPete Brown, beer writer

Yes people are startingto fall back in love with beer but we still have a long way to goDavid Cunningham, There’s A Beer For That

16 Events: Beer Innovation Summit