Here We Go Round A Different Mulberry Bush
(Being a follow-up to the article in
ALE 293)
Fact
Bass are spending £8M on a TV campaign (with additional
below-the-line expenditure) on Caffreys
in an effort to change a hybrid Irish Ale into a
competitor to the premium lager market (Stella, 1664, Becks).
The product was created by Bass Northern Ireland in the former Caffrey's Brewery, based on the old Irish red ale style.
Now "Irish" and "Ale" are to be dropped.
Why?
- Bass has lost its first place in the UK market to Scottish & Newcastle.
- Bass has repeatedly failed to penetrate the premium lager market:
witness the failure of Tennants Extra, Lamont Pils, Steinlager, Grolsch and Carling Premier.
- Premium lager is the fastest-growing sector of the market.
Given (1) & (2) above, Bass needs to be seen to respond by the City analysts.
- Irishness is no longer in vogue: witness GK dropping Wexford;
witness the latest Guinness adverts (all Irish heritage dropped).
How?
From being launched with a laid-back Irish heritage "strong words softly spoken" as a consistently
cool, creamy Irish Ale, Caffreys now will become at the stroke of a marketing pen a
lad's drink for a Friday night full of promise, based on the line "storm brewing"!
That cynical exploitation and the one-dimensional, minimal taste (exacerbated by temperature)
is proof to the discerning drinker of its lack of quality.
Fashion Victims
Bass fail to appreciate that Caffreys becoming fashionable was not
entirely unrelated to the removal of out-of-favour Draught Bass and that such a
deliberate manoeuvre merely puts them into a treadmill.
The fashion market is out of Bass' control - witness the sudden collapse of the
alcopop market, cynically manipulated by Bass with Hooper's Hooch.
Of course Bass were clever spotting the fashion first to massage that year's financial results.
But once on such a treadmill, Bass became increasingly reactive to the whims not only of
the analysts but also of that part of the market it has helped shift away from the more
traditional pub experience. They became prisoners of their own marketing, out of touch with
the long-term realities of quality products in community pubs.
Please think about the big brewers' concerns for traditional drinkers.
As consumers please vote with your purchases accordingly.
[Follow-up: ALE 26th Cambridge Beer Festival No. 295
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Cambridge & District CAMRA