Public Servant Lifestyle

Rising consumer sophistication towards marketing, and willingness to experiment with new drinks, mean that the label on the bottle has become more important than ever.

We Are What We Drink

The influence of style bars, cocktail culture and image-led marketing mean that consumption of premium beers and flavoured alcoholic beverages has increased.

Designer alcoholic drinks (premium beers, high alcoholic percentage beers and flavoured alcoholic drinks) are driving innovation and growth in what is seen, by some experts, as an otherwise largely static beer market. The designer alcoholic drinks market has witnessed consistent growth over the past five years, with this growth set to continue.

A report, which covers seven European countries and the US, found that definitions of what constitutes a premium product vary across countries, and between different manufacturers. In the UK, premium beer can be largely defined on the basis of alcoholic strength (usually between 4.7% and 7.3% abv). This definition is not, however, applicable in the US, for example, where premium tends to refer to a brand/positioning (imported lagers).

Premium Drinks Defined by Image

The growth of the premium sector has been fundamental to the growth of the designer alcoholic drinks market. Image has emerged to be the most important defining factor in a product's premium status. Not only does brand image affiliate the product to its target audience, it is also the means by which premium qualities are communicated to the consumer. A key aspect of brand image is its fashionability, and manufacturers are becoming faster at identifying which trends will acquire this fashionability, and which will not.

Image and marketing in the premium sector are closely interlinked, and one will impact on the other. For example, Kahlùa, a coffee-flavoured liqueur from Allied Domecq, had an image of staid, after-dinner drinking, for women in the 30+ age group. This was changed by a bout of integrated marketing featuring television, radio and print advertising. The drink was positioned as a highly mixable and credible product. Following this, a range of Kahlùa-based premixed drinks, named after actual cocktails, such as B52 and White Russian, were released.

Style Bars, Opinion Leaders and Cocktail Culture Drive the Designer Trend

The on-trade is moving towards being more of an interactive experience, as the clientele influence the image of the place, and vice versa. The newer, city centre style bars are sophisticated venues which attract affluent, image conscious consumers, and this is exactly the type of on-trade establishment that designer alcoholic drinks thrive on. Manufacturers are attempting to capitalise on the exclusivity of location, which translates into exclusivity for the product, making it a must-have.

The club scene is also important; allying a product with the nightclubbing market increases brand exposure and means that the product acquires acceptance from a socially influential audience. Both of these are integral to the development of designer alcoholic drinks.

Opinion leaders form the segment of the consumer base that is socially influential in terms of fashions. Taking the product to places where opinion leaders congregate is an attempt to secure acceptance of the product by these trendsetters. This consequently expands the appeal of the product to consumers who are driven by more peer-led drinking. In the designer alcoholic drinks market, the opinion leaders tend to be young professional adults who frequent city centre bars.

Trends

The trend for going to stylish bars and drinking expensive cocktails mixed at the bar is an affirmation of wealth and style. This mentality has experienced resurgence due to rising disposable incomes. Cocktail culture has influenced flavour trends, especially in the premixed spirits market.

Premixed spirits can be seen as being bottled cocktails, in the sense that they use a spirit base and flavoured mixer, and this is the most notable influence of cocktail culture on flavour trends. New flavourings in this category have tended to be drawn from trends in cocktail mixtures; for instance the current trend for cranberry flavourings began as an on-trade development whereby vodka was mixed with cranberry juice. Strong and vibrant colouring in drinks is another aspect of the influence of cocktail culture on the flavoured alcoholic beverage market.

Tangible aspects of Marketing Help to Create Designer Status

On a tangible level, consumers do not have a vast array of ways to accurately discern the real value of a product, and price is seen as an almost scientific way of being able to do this. On an emotional level, a high price convinces the consumer of the premium status of a product - the value of the product. Hence the comparatively high price of products like Stella Artois lager in the UK, the marketing of which states that it is "reassuringly expensive".

Packaging is also playing a role in a product's premium status. Long-necked, 275ml, glass bottles have become the norm in packaging for premium drinks, particularly for premixed drinks and bottled beer. Glass bottles in general are particularly synonymous with premium status. In this case it is not the actual quality of the product that impacts on the consumer's purchase decision, as this is a largely unknown entity; it is the perception that the product is premium by deduction from the manner of packaging used.

Consumers Willing to Experiment with New Drinks

The development of foodie culture has played a major part in changing consumer attitudes. There is increased sophistication in eating habits, and people are more willing to experiment with new food trends. This has impacted on the drinks market in the sense that consumers are now more willing to try out newer drinks, or perhaps new ways of drinking more established drinks. Exotic flavour combinations are more readily tested and accepted, as are unconventional drink combinations. All of this is driving sales for flavoured premixed drinks and cocktail-style drinks.

"I am what I drink..."

The cult of the individual is a major aspect of culture and is a growing trend across all markets. This term refers to the trend for individuality in consumption. For instance, rather than drinking the same brand as their peers, consumers drink something that is particular to their own consumption habits in order to assert their own character and individuality. This trend is manifesting itself in both an assertion of individuality and a rejection of blanket marketing. This is a strong driver for sales of designer alcoholic drinks even though brands have targeted opinion leaders in an attempt to capture more peer-led consumption. Ultimately, the brands' contribution to the consumers' perception of their own individuality is key to the success of designer alcoholic drinks, despite the inherent contradictions in this.

Consumers are getting better at reading the marketing

"Consumers are becoming more adept at discerning which products are qualitatively better than others," says Neil Broome, drinks industry analyst for Datamonitor, which produced the report.

"They are also becoming quicker to abandon those which do not appeal to them. This is increasing the impetus on producers to create products that are obviously better than others in a tangible way. Despite the importance of image, poor quality in the premium market is less tolerated amongst consumers now.

"As consumers are getting more and more accustomed to marketing techniques, they are also becoming more inured to them. The cult of individuality has impacted on the type of marketing used. Consumers no longer want an impersonal; blanket campaign, which shows little relevance to their own desires. Hence the development of more personalised marketing. Bass' frozen beer, Arc, for example, has taken note of this by using the medium of mobile phone text messaging to specifically make contact with its target audience."

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