1. June 2006 • Admap 35© World Advertising Research Center 2006
‘W
E NEED TO REINVENT the
way we market to consumers.
We need a new model’
A.G. Lafery, CEO Procter & Gamble.
Walking through an average-sized
supermarket, the challenges facing fmcg
brandsareclear.Forcedtobemorecompet-
itivefortheirshareofsales,theynowwork
harderforincrementallysmallerincreases.
Brands must engage their consumers’
hearts, minds and wallets while also com-
batting their competitors – which today
includetheretailersthemselves.
The result is there are more brands on
theshelf,moreoptionsofwhenandwhere
you can purchase and how much you pay
for them. So what are established brands
doing to survive and expand in this
increasingly competitive environment?
This article will look at better ways in
which fmcg brands (and beers in particu-
lar) are developing and delivering their
product offering, with more complex
communication plans targeted at more
savvy and better understood consumers.
To grow in the current market – less is
not more – brands cannot afford to be sin-
gle-minded in their positioning, their
marketing and their strategic approach to
growth. The market requires brands to
trial, tailor, and target their products and
their message.
Trial: product extensions
According to the Harvard Business
Review, over 30,000 new consumer prod-
uctswillbelaunchedin2006.Over90%of
them will fail.
Productextensionsleveragetheirexist-
ing brand to extend their reach into new
audiences and new occasions, with there
beingfourkeyscenariosfromwhichmar-
keting-led product extensions tend to
develop.
1. Saturation: where there are no new
consumers or the lead product/s have cre-
ated a monopoly/oligarchy and do not
want to upset the status quo.
2. Defence: to tackle recent or changing
competition with the express goal of pro-
tecting the parent brand (even to the
detriment of the extension).
3. Evolution: when changing consumer
behaviour or other commercial develop-
ments threaten the very category or
positioning a brand has.
4. Boredom or Chaos: when marketers
look for a challenge or are brought in to
dramatically change the way a business
sells its products.
The UK beer market has also been
floodedbyextensions,somemorememo-
rable than others, but usually following
one of two market growth strategies:
1. The hare
Scottish & Newcastle’s (S&N) Kronen-
bourg has recently launched two
variants: Premier Cru and more recently
Kronenbourg Blanc. Both beers trade
heavilyonKronenbourg’sheritage.Blanc
has been inspired by a brewing method
for wheat beers made popular in the 13th
century. Premier Cru credits Alsatian
qualities to the use of local spring water.
Kronenbourgiscommonlyconsidered
the pacesetter for innovation within the
category, but with this pace comes the
abilitytomakemistakesbymisusingher-
itage. Without consumer insight or a
relevant product truth, heritage can
become a fashion accessory and heritage
for heritage’s sake.
Deco(launchedin2003)fusedKronen-
bourg 1664 and a 25ml shot of Absinthe
inasinglepackage.Itsdisappearancesug-
gests that consumers saw it for what
it was – a lager and chaser combination –
rather than an attempt to recreate the
spiritoftheMoulinRougein21stcentury
south London. It was neither inclusive
nor exclusive.
Driven by S&N’s defence of the on
trade market, these ‘innovations’ chal-
lenge the credibility of provenance and
heritage. And consumers are left to ques-
tion other aspects of ‘heritage’ that, on
closer inspection, appear manufactured.
Talk is cheaper than marketing. Chasing
short-term volume at the expense of your
parent brand can have a long-term
impact on its value and equity.
2. The tortoise
The past is not always a burden or a hin-
derance to the future. Artois Bock was
first brewed in Belgium in the 1890s but
has been out of circulation since the
1950s.Abeersostrong,theDailyMailand
the Times described it as ‘Super Stella’
(although not much different to Premier
Cru), it may not appear an inspired mar-
keting move.
Artois Bock’s target audience is small-
er than Premier Cru’s due to its unusual
and challenging taste. But Artois Bock
wasonlyre-bornaftersignificantproduct
development.Timewasspentidentifying
whatconsumerssoughtfrombeerbrands
in the future. But what this niche brand
surrenders in volume and profile it aims
to recover in value and presence, by re-
associating Stella Artois with provenance
and quality.
How all brands can best do this is to
ensure their specific message reaches
their target audience in the most appro-
priate and relevant fashion.
Tailor: media mix
‘Wewillseeaseachangeinhowwedistribute
media investment in the next five years’
Maurice Levy, CEO & Chairman, Publicis
Groupe, February 2006
For over 20 years TV has been the
medium through which to launch,
grow and defend beer brands. For
the likes of Stella Artois and Guinness,
there has been the added benefit of
consumer romanticism, with the ad as
much as the product.
Brian Dargan and Jeremy Brook, Draft London, examine growth strategies open to
fmcg brands, and show how these must inevitably focus on the point of sale
Oxygen must be
more than publicity
‘The market
requires brands to
trial, tailor, and
target their products
and their message’
productplacementfocus
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2. 36 Admap • June 2006 © World Advertising Research Center 2006
ones that interrupt and disrupt.
They also need to consider their con-
nection strategy; do they engage heavily
and vertically in one core area and
become‘experts’ordotheytakeabroader,
more horizontal approach and be ‘genre
generalists’? But in both cases they must
use the opportunity to establish a rela-
tionship with their consumers.
Dostoevsky deep
Experiential advertising has been an area
of particular attention for beer brands. By
combining a passive interest like event
sponsorship with brand-inspired events
and entertainment, consumers are able to
enter branded worlds. By far the best
deliverer of this within the beer category
is Carling Live – the top UK lager’s music
platform. By creating a synonymous rela-
tionship with live music, 18-24 year-olds
have been given a positive impression of
the brand and its ‘it knows me’ status.
Carling Live is built on four tiers of
LIVE music association focusing their
attention on the one area where music
andbeerareintrinsicallylinked–‘thegig’.
There is less synergy between a CD and a
beer than watching a band live and hav-
ing a beer. The activity is broad but
effective. Sponsorship of Carling Acade-
mies, Carling Weekends (including Leeds
and Reading Festivals), Carling Live 24
and Carlinglive.com are combined, so
that every live-music fan is aware of the
association.
This is more than common sense mar-
keting: it is about establishing a
relationship with consumers that
involves placing the brand in an environ-
mentoranemotionalplaceofimportance
and value to them.
David Lubars, of BBDO Group
describes this as the ‘reductionist nugget’-
or the new Holy Grail of contemporary
advertising networks. The value of the
creative is no longer represented by its
abilitytofilla30-secondspot,buttheabil-
ity to find the simplest idea, one that has
impact and power in any channel from
traditional advertising and new media
through to experiential and sales promo-
tion.
Tolstoy wide
NobeerbrandintheUKhasachievedthis
Holy Grail, but (closer than most) Stella
Artois has achieved some synthesis in its
approach to film association that does
demonstrate the value of its activity.
Stella Artois invests in a multi-layered
brand experience. Channel 4 TV sponsor-
ship has been supplemented by
multi-channel opportunities with the
media partner. In February
Channel4.com launched its first broad-
band TV programme Movie Rush,
dedicated to the latest-release cinema
premieres, DVDs and film news. Only
But for today’s brand teams and their
agencies the answer is no longer ‘the TV
ad’,regardlessofthequestion.Why?They
must connect with as much of their
potential audience as possible.
The average internet user now spends
anaverageof41daysonlineeachyear,the
equivalent of 164 minutes a day, com-
pared with 37 days (148 minutes) spent
watching TV, according to research con-
ducted by TNS and commissioned by
Google.
TV’s share of alcohol brands’ market-
ing spend is falling because it is less
creative and less effective than it used to
be.Effectivenesshassufferedbecausecon-
sumers are using the internet, their
mobile phones and other new devices to
access content – often free of the pause
caused by three minutes of commercials.
Forrester Research estimates that in com-
ing years $7 billion will be lost in total TV
ad revenues because of PVRs and VOD.
Less creative, as Ofcom seeks to introduce
tighter and tighter restrictions.
According to Ofcom the number of 24
to 34 year-olds watching at least 15 con-
secutive minutes of TV in a week fell by
2.5% between December 2003 and
December 2005. It might not sound like a
lot, but for beer brands that need to reach
young audiences (the life-blood of the sec-
tor) the marketing mix is going to
displace some of the TV’s gravitational
pull on the budget.
Beer brands have been experimenting
with media channels to deepen their con-
sumers’ experience. Spend is shifting to
media that seek the consumer’s permis-
sion to engage (and that enhance the
brand experience), and away from the
‘Beer brands have
been experimenting
with media channels
to deepen their
consumers’
experience’
focusbrandgrowth
Beer brands have been experimenting with
media channels
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3. June 2006 • Admap 37© World Advertising Research Center 2006
‘aired’ online, this is Channel4’s only ded-
icated film programme – a testament to
the power of the medium.
In addition, Stella Artois continues to
sponsor leading film festivals (Sundance,
London and Cannes included), while also
developing its own outdoor film events
including Donnie Darko in Kensington
Gardens, London. Each event attracts
20,000guests,butmoreimportantlygives
the brand the opportunity to communi-
cate to over three million consumers at a
time. Stella Artois has recently extended
its association with film into the retail
and on trade environments.
By learning more about our audiences
weareabletoknowhowtopushthenext
campaign further, surprising new con-
sumers and delighting (like-minded) new
ones.
Targeting: consumers
With ever-increasing product ranges and
more channels/consumer touchpoints
emerging, how do marketers ensure that
they:
are getting to the right consumers
can encourage them to buy their prod-
uct repeatedly – because of preference or
loyalty, not discounting.
And as to how to approach this final
frontier, there are two different historic
approaches.
In one camp are the retail specialists –
salespromoters,ifyouwill.Thesespecial-
istsarethefirsttoremindyouthat80%of
the purchasing decision is made at retail.
In the other camp are the consumer-rela-
tionship specialists who believe that
consumers can be targeted well in
advance of their arrival in store. Histori-
cally this has been the domain of
high-value consumer goods with longer
life cycles, where these marketers easily
achieved cost per response.
But there have been two distinct devel-
opments that have made these two
marketing approaches no longer the
domain of separate specialists.
First, the cost of communication has
fallen over the past three years, largely
due to the increased quality of digital
communications (especially in terms of
tracking and response).
Second is the advent of a truly remark-
able beast: the retail loyalty card. There is
barely a household in the UK that doesn’t
contain a supermarket reward card.
As a result sales promotion and CRM
have made a new alliance that in part
acknowledges that the consumer is forev-
er being challenged to trial or increase
their rate of purchase of alternatives.
At Draft London we have a proprietary
tool called ‘Retail Ecology’ whereby we
approach the retail experience holistical-
ly (from the screen, to the store and
beyond) and recognise that the in-store
environmentisbothachannelandames-
saging opportunity.
So much of the modern consumer’s
timeandeffortinastoreisspenttryingto
locate what they want and weigh up the
myriad promotions available. If we can
better understand how they navigate
theirwayaroundthestore–mentallyand
physically – then armed with this infor-
mation we can maximise the potential of
individual brands to achieve standout,
without discounting.
Addressing the marketing communi-
cations plan, that has TV at one end and
promotional mechanics at the other, are a
new breed of agencies informed by a new
level of understanding that merges con-
sumers’ attitudes and opinions towards
brandswithadetailedbehaviouralunder-
standing of what products they actually
buy.
Over time, marketers will realise the
new potential this frontier has. In
part, this is the result of a shift from
the consumer context being informed
by the media agency, to the channel
marketer who has the ability to develop
new approaches, to promotional tech-
niques based on insights fuelled by retail
data.
The power and effectiveness of digital
media in the last three years has only
sought to accelerate this. Increased per-
sonalisation, speed to market and
cheapnesshaveallincreasedeffectiveness
andreachacrossSMS,email,web,in-store
TV, online advertising, coupons at till and
online sponsorship.
The difficulty for marketers is that the
retailer holds most of the cards (and all of
the data), and your competitor is just
as likely to be as involved with the
store, whose main focus is keeping
the customers happy and making
suretheirneedsareserved.Todaytheben-
efits outweigh the concerns, as
effectiveness becomes the key question
asked of every channel and is now meas-
ured in retail sales.
Conclusion
The key to future brand success is a more
symbiotic relationship between the con-
sumer and the brand, its agencies, its
marketers and the retailers.
A relationship of more: more focus on
how brands, messaging and environ-
ments can become more relevant and
personal to our consumers; more focus-
ing on the consumer’s experience of the
brandandhowtheyengagewithitonthe
journey to purchase. As the retail envi-
ronment is now a central brand
battleground for both volume growth
and commercial success, more time
money and effort is now being dedicated
(proportionately) in this arena than any-
where else, as brands wake up to its
crucial role in consumers’ decision-mak-
ing processes. And while much of the
hard work that goes towards building
a brand may be done in advance of
this arena, its results are ultimately meas-
ured there. ■
brian.dargan@draftlondon.com
jeremy.brook@draftlondon.com
Brian Dargan is joint
planning director of
Draft London, a global
integrated marketing
communications
company. Brian has
worked on brands such
as Microsoft, Sky and
Nissan.
Jeremy Brook became
Draft's youngest senior
account manager in
2004. Among other
projects, he has worked
on the stellaartois.co.uk
and stellascreen.co.uk
websites and the MTV
Europe Music Awards.
‘By learning more
about our audiences
we are able to know
how to push the
next campaign
further’
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