It wasn’t long ago that some were saying beer is dead. Why? Well you could blame Sex and the City, in part. For a span during the last decade, drinkers were gravitating to mixed cocktails (like the cosmopolitan) and wine. Beer just wasn’t that hip anymore.
Like most trends, the cocktail craze has dimmed, and alcohol consumers are again saying cheers to beers. To keep this momentum moving in the right direction, beer marketers actually upped their marketing spends in the first half of the year, according to the Nielsen Company. And spending in the most expensive medium, TV, rose 7.9%.
“Beer serves a mass audience, and TV is the most efficient way to reach a mass audience. That’s it in a nutshell,” says Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights.
The number one beer, Bud Light, has been hitting the airwaves hard since the kickoff of football season. The brand has seen soft sales, due to increased competition and consumers trading down to less-expensive options, as well as the fact that it has been around for a quarter of a century, says Steinman.
To battle back, Bud Light launched its “Tailgate Approved” ad campaign. The ads spoof infomercials and star a frenetic salesman named Jimmy Football. Consumers can even go to www.tailgateapproved.com to purchase Bud Light promotional items, like the Natural Fake Grass Can Coozie, the 3-in-1 Condiment Gun (like a caulking gun, only full of ketchup, mustard and relish) and the Foozie (combination foam finger/can holder).
“Beer advertising continues to be more conventional and traditional,” says alcohol industry consultant Arthur Shapiro. Companies are investing in marketing due to the fact that “Climates are changing because of the economy and consolidation in the industry. They have no choice,” Shapiro says.
This holds true for on-premise (bars) and off-premise (supermarkets) marketing efforts. Beer marketers rely heavily on promotional products to stimulate loyalty and spur sales. On-premise giveaways of items like glow sticks, bottle openers and shirts remain important, despite the fact that sales at bars, clubs and restaurants make up only a quarter of the business now, according to Steinman.
Dangling promotions in-store is important because it can help serve as a tie-breaker when consumers are deciding which item to purchase. Labatt Blue wanted to connect with fans of the Detroit Tigers. It used a distributor to create two limited-edition baseball caps. Labatt packaged 20,000 of each design in specially marked 24-bottle cases. All of the cases were snapped up in 45 days.