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I see from this article here that brewing behemoths, Molson Coors and Carlsberg are to launch a range of 'female friendly' beers aimed, surprisingly enough, at women.
The beers Eve, Animee are desribed as being lighter, less carbonated and 'bloat resistant'.
Kristy McCready of Molson Coors told the Mail on Sunday: “The perception is that beer is a laddish drink so Animee will be more sophisticated and playful.”
The beer will come in smaller bottles (275ml) and will come in three varieties - Standard, Rose and Citrus.
No doubt, these beers will be launched will a mega cash rich media budget behind them as they try to tap in to a growing sector of the market - the female beer drinker.
We should view this for what it is. A cynical move by these multinationals to tap in to one of the fastest growing market sectors. It is not about getting more people into pubs drinking beer. It is about shifting units of these 'female friendly' beers from the supermarket shelf.
Don't these huge multinationals get it?
Are they seriously saying that the 700+ British breweries are currently making beer that is female unfriendly?
That is, clearly, utter tosh. More and more women are drinking and enjoying beer made by UK micro-breweries. They are clearly happy with the product.
Perhaps, these brewing multinationals should put the cash set aside for the marketing, publicity and market research of these beers and, instead, use it to improve their own core beers.
Maybe then, they will get more drinkers, men and women consuming their product.
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It never ceases to amaze me how wrong the big boys get it. They worry more about marketing than they do about the taste and have gone about this in the most backwards way possible.
ReplyDeleteTheyve looked at beer and tried to reduce the things that focus groups have told them stops women drinking beer (bloating, laddishness etc). Rather than thinking about why women would buy beer. i.e. for its taste.
People drink a particular type of alcohol because they like the taste of it. They might then choose a brand within that category of alcohol because of its marketing or 'brand' but ultimately it comes down to taste. Taking away the pros for the sake of reducing the cons is not the way to improve something! They need to improve the taste so that the pros outweigh the cons! Gin and tonic is gassier than beer but if someone likes the taste theyll drink it anyway!
These aren't beers, they're fashion accessories! They will not be aimed at female beer drinkers, they will be aimed at fashion conscious consumers (otherwise known as sheep).
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is a market for them and I'm sure they will be hugely successful, at least for a little while til the next wave of must drink fashion accessory comes along.
I don't think they're saying that 700+ brewers are making female Un-friendly beer, but it seems that they could have just made loads of male un-friendly beer themselves. From what I've read so far will any of you guys be trying these beers??
ReplyDeletemight as well produce gay beer, vegetarian beer, taste free beer, beer free beer, beer for horses, beer for barbie, beer for retards....I could go on but I think I'm going to write a blog instead and see if I can get a rise out of them.....
ReplyDeleteAm conscious that I don't want to just say the same thing I've already said on other blogs but the at Molson Coors we do get it - I believe we get it more than any of our competitors because of the huge number of women we've spoken to.
ReplyDeleteThe 700+ breweries you mention make some amazing beers no question - the sad truth is it's women that think they're female unfriendly and that's something we need to change so that the whole category benefits.
What I'd never do is suggest all women are the same - especially since I am one - but to suggest that female beer drinkers are the fastest growing segment is just not true. It's definitely a big opportunity but we recognise it's a long term play and we're in it for the long term because we are committed to making beer a real choice for women.
Animee is just one way to do that and developed with women who tell us it's great I'm looking forward to it's success.
@Kristy
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
I didn't say that the women's market was THE fastest growing markets but one of the fastest growing markets. There's a difference.
If you are at the GBBf in a fortnight's time you will see proof of this - many female drinkers, many of them new to the beer fold, enjoying a pint or two of lovely, tasty well made cask beer.
It's good that you are trying to reach out to many potential new beer drinkers but I don't think that your product, animee, is the one to do it. I wish you well, though.