Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/303900
International Affairs 34 Beverage Dynamics • May/June 2014 www.beveragedynamics.com "On the packaging front, we are launching Heineken in an 8.5-oz. Slim Can format," reports Blazek. "Heineken is the fi rst upscale brand to offer the 8.5-oz. cans, a format that is outpacing other sizes at retail and is especially popular among multicultural male consumers." PROMOTION COMMOTION Cinco de Mayo is a key holiday for Mexican beers. This year the date fell on a Monday, so Dos Equis conducted a campaign to start the holiday on Friday through to Monday. Starting in April, the Dos de Mayo campaign featured new "Most Interesting Man in the World" TV and radio spots airing nationally. Dos Equis also gave its traditional Lager and Ambar bottles a makeover with limited-edition label designs inspired by its Mexican heri- tage. The timing also coincided with the launch of the Dos-A- Rita line extension. To debut its summer seasonal, Newcastle is pumping up the packaging of its Newcastle Bombshell Blonde Ale this summer, by featuring a lovely swimsuit-clad "bombshell" blonde on its packaging. Available from April through July, Bombshell is brewed with Cascade, Hallertau and North- down hops, which helps balance the light-colored golden ale's light aroma and bitterness with toasted malt for a smooth, clean finish. Other Newcastle seasonals will appear throughout the year. In 2014 one of the big initiatives for Tenth and Blake is the launch of a "Seasons" campaign for Peroni Nastro Azzurro. It is the number-one beer brand in Italy, and is considered as a "style brand," like Versace and Prada, explains Verschoor. Just as fashion brands have fall, winter, spring and summer collections, Peroni will have its seasons. The campaign will be in priority markets of New York, L.A. and Miami, with out of home, print and TV advertising, which will "talk about Peroni as Italian style applied to beer." Both Corona and Modelo Especial are supporting the World Cup this year with targeted advertising. A sweepstakes summer promotion involves Corona, Corona Light and Modelo Especial. Where legal, consumers search out codes on our 12-, 18- and 24- pack cartons and enter online to win prizes. The messaging is in both English and Spanish, a fi rst for the brands. The promotion is aimed at driving consumers to retail outlets. "We're constantly looking to engage our customers with promotional packaging and utilize opportunities to engage during the key summer selling sea- son," says Hackett. This spring, Tecate and Tecate Light, cervezas con carácter, kicked off a national shopper marketing program across thousands of retail locations, which included a sweepstakes, cross-merchan- dising offers and thematic point-of-sale materials. The "Gear Up" campaign centered on an easy-to-enter, text-to-win sweepstakes that gave consumers the chance to win summer grilling gear, in- cluding Tecate Light can-shaped grills, rolling coolers and Tecate camping chairs. Guinness is continuing its global campaign, "Made of More," which launched last year. This summer will mark the second year of the Guinness International Champions Cup, a competitive soccer tournament with eight top teams facing off in 12 cities across the U.S. in July and August. ON THE HORIZON "The exciting thing is we see a continued acceleration of the super- premium category," says Verschoor at Tenth and Blake, which bodes well for the future of the import category. "We have the best momentum going since Crown Imports was formed some six years ago," notes Hackett, adding, "We have to continue building on this momentum, and we will." "The beginning of 2014 has been challenging in Northern U.S.; the cold and snowy weather was the big story," relates Hoff at Artisanal Imports, but he is positive about the remainder of the year. "The more good breweries there are, the more beer drinkers there are who are on that journey of discovery," he says. "And the more people who are going to be knocking on our door to try our beers." BD Last fall, Diageo-Guinness released the limited-edition, seasonal Guinness Red Harvest Stout, a mild, sweet ale in a nitro can, which joined several other Guinness offerings including Guinness Black Lager, Guinness Foreign Stout and Guinness Draught in a can. Newcastle is promoting its summer seasonal, a limited-edition English- style blonde pale ale called Newcastle Bombshell.