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Suma Foods to Brew Organic Beer

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According to the splash page on their website, Suma is the UK’s largest independent wholesaler and distributor of quality vegetarian, fairly traded, organic and natural foods. There are around 7,000 products listed that they either make or distribute. You can now add one more to their list: organic beer.

Today’s Yorkshire Post gave a few scant details on the project. From the article:

The UK’s biggest independent distributor of organic food, Halifax-based Suma Foods, has launched a range of organic beers. The beers are all CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) approved, certified organic by the Soil Association and are vegan.

The beer is brewed locally by a Dutch master brewer who the company has been working with over the past 18 months to develop the range.

The names for the beers were chosen by Suma’s customers in a competition and reflect local places and folklore in the Calder Valley.

Though curiously the names of the beers were not revealed and Suma’s somewhat sparse website gives no details either. Now that’s good reporting.

Bitburger M.I.A.

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After the public backlash in Germany over Anhesuer-Busch’s being named the beer sponsor for the World Cup games, A-B eventually bowed to public pressure and worked out a compromise that was supposed to insure that a German beer would also be available at all games. The brand chosen was Bitburger, whose Bit brandname had been deemed too close to Bud so that A-B was told they couldn’t use that name in their advertising. Instead they would have to use Anheuser-Busch Bud, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. So a compromise was worked out. Bitburger could be sold at all World Cup games and A-B could advertise their product as simply “Bud.”

One little hitch, though, is that A-B appears to have reneged on its part of the deal. According to George Parker on AdHurl:

Interesting bit in this weeks Der Spiegel exposing the great Anheuser-Busch beer sham. Apparently in an attempt to placate the Germans, the company agreed to allow German beer to be sold alongside its Bud. But once the fans were inside the stadium… No Bitburger – The reporter was forced to drink Bud… With dreadful consequences. Seems like an incredibly bad piece of PR on the part of Anheuser-Busch. Unless some genius there thought “Oh, once they taste it, they’ll love it.” Listen Busch VI or VIII or whatever, I wouldn’t drink Bud in the US, and I certainly wouldn’t go to Germany to drink it. Dumb arrogant move!

He’s referring to a report in Der Spiegel by Marc Young:

I can now expose the great Anheuser-Busch beer sham. The US brewer bought the sole rights to sell beer in World Cup stadiums before Germany even knew it would host this summer’s tournament. But in an attempt to head off a nasty public backlash, the company cleverly agreed to allow German beer to be sold alongside its Budweiser. This was good PR, but I can report that there appeared to be no Bitburger — the German brewer Anheuser-Busch cut a deal with — to be had anywhere in the stadium. Maybe Bitburger got one stand outside near the security checks or something. But all I could find was Bud on tap.

That’s what you call a perfect strategic move to get what you want and screw everybody else. You placate everybody and difuse a potentially disasterous PR situation. Then you don’t deliver on your part of the bargain and by the time anyone figures out they’ve been had it’s too late to do anything about it. So the ads and signs all read “Bud” instead of “Anheuser-Busch Bud” but there’s still no German beer you can buy. Even if Marc Young missed it somehow, it still shows how difficult they made it even for someone making a particular point of trying to find Bitburger. And once you’re in the stadium there’s not really anything you can do except be pissed off. You can either drink Bud or nothing. A-B sure is showing the Germans — and every other nation represented at the World Cup — where the “ugly” in “ugly American” comes from. Nice job spreading goodwill. Because this isn’t just a black eye for an American corporation, it’s a black eye for America as a whole. Like it or not, America’s corporate image abroad is all most people see of us and so this skewed image of America as a whole is formed at least in part by those interactions with our corporations. When they act like … well, like corporations, they color people’s impressions of you and me, too.

Beer Marketing in Your Underwear?

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world-cup06
Yesterday’s World Cup match between the Netherlands and the Ivory Coast must have been quite a spectacle. As widely reported, over a thousand Dutch ticket holders arrived wearing orange lederhosen bearing the name of a Dutch brewery. Read that sentence again. Notice anything strange about it? Because it’s exactly the way this story has been reported by all but one or two news organizations. What’s missing is the name of the brewery, which was Bavaria NV. As revealed by IPKat, “For the record, most media – presumably because they benefit handsomely from Budweiser’s vast advertising budget – coyly refuse to tell us the identity of this Dutch upstart.”

bavaria

So anyway, over a thousand Dutch fans show up wearing orange lederhosen with the beer brand name Bavaria on them. Dutch soccer fans traditionally don all things orange before games of their beloved “Oranje,” which is the nickname of the Netherlands national team and the distinctive color of their uniforms. So there’s nothing necessarily odd in that, and this is, after all, the biggest soccer tournament on the planet. But officials at the stadium in Stuttgart ordered them to remove their lederhosen or they would not be allowed to enter the stadium to see the game, despite having paid for their tickets. The majority simply removed them and went into the match and watched it in their underwear.

lederhosen

You can buy your own pair of orange lederhosen at the Bavaria online shop. They only cost about eight bucks, plus shipping. Or you can buy a twelve-pack and get a free pair. “The idea is supposed to be a gentle mockery of the Germans’ penchant for real lederhosen during the World Cup period. The lederhosen also feature a tail and a lion motif — the national symbol of Holland. So far over 250,000 pairs of lederhosen have flown off the shelves and they have become a cult item among Dutch soccer fans.”

Given that the lederhosen have long been available from the brewery and they are perfect for the rabid soccer fan, I don’t really see the problem. Go to any football game in the U.S. and you’ll see countless fans wearing their team’s colors in all manner of available merchandising paraphenalia. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine in a succesful marketing promotion many people wearing the same item to a game. In a stadium the size of Stuttgart’s (seating is 52,000) is a thousand people wearing the same team promotional item really that hard to believe?

Even if it is to hard for you to believe, so what if the brewery gave away the lederhosen or made it very easy to obtain them? Companies have been doing that since Adam Smith first used his invisible hand to avoid a “hand ball” foul. If more of them actually wore them to a game than anticipated, they should be pleased as punch, and FIFA and sponsor Anheuser-Busch should shut the hell up about it. That’s just the market for you.

But that’s not what they did, of course. Instead, they took a different tack.

“Anheuser Busch’s Budweiser is the official beer for the tournament and world soccer’s governing body fiercely protects its sponsors from brands which are not FIFA partners. Markus Siegler, FIFA’s director of communications, said at its daily media briefing yesterday that the governing body was alert to the kind of ‘ambush’ marketing Bavaria had attempted.

From the Yahoo UK article:

“Of course, FIFA has no right to tell an individual fan what to wear at a match, but if thousands of people all turn up wearing the same thing to market a product and to be seen on TV screens then of course we would stop it.

“I don’t know exactly about what happened in Stuttgart, but it seems like an organised attempt to conduct a mass ambush publicity campaign was taking place.”

Peer Swinkels of the Dutch brewery told Reuters by telephone it was “absolutely ridiculous” and “far too extreme” to order the fans to take off their lederhosen and said the brewery had complained to FIFA.

“I understand that FIFA has sponsors but you cannot tell people to strip off their lederhosen and force them to watch a game in their underpants. That is going too far.”

Also from IPKat:

Said FIFA: “Anyone can wear whatever they want, but if a company tries to carry out ambush marketing, FIFA must prevent that happening. In common with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and UEFA, we do not tell individual supporters what to wear, but … FIFA has already won a court case against a beer manufacturer who tried this sort of thing”.

What this means is “Anyone can wear whatever they want, if FIFA says so”.

American beer Budweiser and Germany’s Bitburger are thus the only beers that can be sold, or even worn by spectators, in the 12 World Cup stadiums. The IPKat wonders what FIFA would have done, had the offending garments been t-shirts worn by thousands of young ladies.

PR Professional John Cass had this to say about how the incident will likely effect Anhesuer-Busch:

I think FIFA just created a public relations disaster for Anheuser-Busch by requiring 1,000 Dutch football supporters to remove their trousers when entering an international football match.

FIFA thought that the bright orange trousers represented a “marketing ambush” tactic. FIFA officials blocked entry to the stadium of any Dutch fans wearing the trousers, rather than miss the game 1,000 fans took off their trousers and watched the match in their underwear.

I think the FIFA officials have lost sight of the boundaries between business and common decency. As for Anheuser-Busch, I would not want to be the PR Manager today. This sort of protection of Anheuser-Busch’s sponsorship by FIFA surely cannot be endorsed by the company, otherwise Anheuser-Busch will be remembered this World Cup as company that took 1,000 Dutchmen’s pants away from them.

FIFA might be right that the Dutch company’s marketing tactic ambushed the World Cup stadium. But in the end what matters most in marketing terms is how a company’s brand it perceived through its marketing efforts. I’ve been searching through the web this evening, and it’s not looking good for Anheuser-Busch. Most comments are from Europe, and the majority of the posts are either incredulous or negative about the incident, for Anheuser-Busch:

I say “tough luck corporate sponsors”, money shouldn’t be able to buy the right to subject people to this kind of indignity. At the very least these people should have been offered alternative netherwear. In fact I think they should sue the sponsor who insisted on this and campaign to boycott their wares. So watch out Budweiser, I’m off Bud now (Nouslife Blog).

Where’s all this World Cup goodwill?

… and I always thought it wasn’t the winning that was important, but the taking part (No Offence Intended).

The PR disaster that is Budweiser’s sponsorship of the World Cup gets worse (CMM News).

The Netherlands beat Ivory Coast 2-1. I think I’ll be rooting for them in their next match, which of course I’ll be watching wearing nothing but my underwear with a nice cold Bavaria Beer by my side.

CAMRA Unhappy About Greene King Takeover

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On Friday, the UK’s Guardian Unlimited that CAMRA and other consumer advocacy groups are already angered by Greene King’s takeover big to buy Hardys & Hansons, after which they believe “Hardys & Hansons will be chewed up and spat out like so many before it,” according to Camra’s chief executive, Mike Benner. Hardys & Hansons also includes the pub Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham, believed to be the oldest pub in Great Britain. The pub is literally carved into the sandstone under Nottingham castle, although Wikipedia indicates that perhaps nineteen other pubs have similar claims to the title “oldest in Britain.” Greene King’s bid has thus far included no information about the fate of the pub, the brewery or their employees.


 
 

From CAMRA’s press release:

The Campaign for Real Ale today called on shareholders of Hardys & Hansons to reject the takeover offer from Greene King and draw a line in the sand on behalf of beer consumers.

The offer to buy Nottingham based Hardys & Hansons is the latest in a series of acquisitions that has seen Greene King devour ten rivals in ten years.

CAMRA Chief Executive Mike Benner said: “If this deal goes through, history has shown us that Hardys & Hansons’ brewery and beers will not be in safe hands. Now is the time for the shareholders who truly care about this excellent brewery with more than 174 years of history to make a stand and reject this offer.

“Today’s announcement made scant reference to the future of the beers, the brewery or the staff. We believe if the shareholders don’t block this now, Hardys & Hansons will be chewed up and spat out like so many before it.”

CAMRA is concerned that the acquisition of Hardys & Hansons 268 strong pub estate would take the number of pubs owned by Greene King and selling its beers to around 2680 nationwide. Having such a massive presence can only be damaging to consumer choice.

Mike Benner continued: “In 2002 CAMRA warned the Government that the abolition of the Guest Beer Right would result in a series of mergers and takeovers that would undermine competition and consumer choice. Do we want to find ourselves in a situation where every other pub sells only Greene King IPA? The Guest Beer Right must be reintroduced before it is too late so that licensees can sell a beer of their choice to preserve the future for independent breweries.”

Here’s a history of buyouts undertaken by Greene King over the last ten years:

  1. 1996: Magic Pub Company (This pub group included the Hungry Horse concept which is now one of the Greene King’s pub brands)
  2. 1999: Morlands Brewery (closed the brewery and Ruddles beer brands acquired at the same time)
  3. 2001: Old English Inns (the pub estate integrated into the GK pub estate)
  4. 2002: Acquired the Morrells Pub company (pubs integrated with the GK pub estate)
  5. 2004: Laurel Pub Company (pubs integrated with the GK pub estate)
  6. 2005: Ridleys Brewery (brewery closed)
  7. 2005: Belhaven Brewery (brewery still open)

Bud Goes for Silver

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Currently being test-marketed in Scotland, Anheuser-Busch, will be rolling out Bud Silver throughout the United Kingdon beginning next month. Bud Silver is a “European-style beer with a fuller premium flavor,” according to the UK trade magazine “Checkout.”

It comes in a blue and silver can and is 4.1% abv. According to A-B’s UK managing director, David Dryden, “Bud Silver represents an exciting opportunity for us to compete in a growing category.” Since the UK is Bud’s third-largest market outside the U.S. and Budweiser is the number one premium packaged lager in bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, I’m not sure what “growing market” he’s talking about. I presume he means beer with flavor — or “fuller premium flavor,” as he put it — is the category that’s growing. But back up a second, how sad is it that marketing is so effective that Britain’s youth has abandoned the country’s rich heritage of ales and made Budweiser their number one drink? But I digress.

Guide to Good Beer at the World Cup

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Serendipity obviously played her hand in Steve Thomas’ new Good Beer Guide Germany, which was published in the UK May 17 of this year, only a couple of weeks before the start of the World Cup, which is held this year in, of course, Germany. The book is published by CAMRA and will be ideal for anyone traveling to Germany in search of beer other than the official beer of the World Cup. It’s not yet available here in the States, but you can order it online from Amazon UK.

The new CAMRA guide to good beer in Germany. Click here for larger view.

Spülwasser

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According to an article on today’s online version of the Nation, Germans call Budweiser “Spülwasser,” which translates roughly as dishwater and that seems a fair approximation of the flavor. The article concerns Anheuser-Busch’s being the exclusive beer sponsor for the upcoming World Cup in Germany.

The 2006 World Cup will have eighteen premium sponsors who each paid around $40 million for that designation. A German television station nicely summed up the German reaction at the time of the announcement last year when they said. “A cry went out across the nation.” A-B apparently relented and allowed 30% of beer sales to come from German brewer Bitburger. But then Bitburger protested that the name “Bud” was too close to their “Bit” beer and as a result (along with issues regarding Czech brewer Budvar) Anheuser-Busch will only be able to call their beer “Anheuser-Busch Bud” throughout the tournament, which means for all that money they won’t even be able to use their most popular brandname.

I thought the Nation author’s conclusion hilarious. Here it is:

So Anheuser-Busch has paid all that money for a monopoly that has taken away its name and could trigger a demonstration or even rioting by furious spectators faced with no choice but to go dry or drink dishwater.

On top of that, with the start of the quadrennial soccer tourament only weeks away, the protest is not going away. A new group has just put up an amusing website called Bud Out. The group’s apparent mission appears to be simply to get Budweiser out of the tournamanet completely. I know they can’t possibly win, but I love the idea of them trying. They are asking for people to post their own anti-Bud pictures. So far, there aren’t too many up yet but what is there so far is pretty funny.

Let the games begin.

Beer May Inhibit Osteoporosis

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England’s Daily Mail reported today the findings of a recent study that shows drinking a pint of beer a day “appears to suppress the hormones that promote bone loss.” Further, the “researchers say it may have a better effect on preventing bone loss than calcium.” So the slogan should be changed to “Beer, It Does a Body Good.”

Plus the beer industry has always been looking for a way to increase the number of female beer drinkers. Perhaps this is their opportunity since as I understand it Osteoporisis affects women four times as often as men.

A Beer for Menopausal Women

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While the FDA in the U.S. has been more than a little reluctant to endorse any health claims regarding beer, the EU has been at the vanguard of researching and standarizing such claims. Our governments’ stance on alcohol has been informed more by religious zealotry than any true health concerns. As a result we cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that the demon alcohol might in fact not be all bad. That perhaps there are some health benefits from moderate drinking, despite study after study that shows just that, is anathema to the puritanical thinking of the neo-prohibitionists who make our country’s drug policy.

Meanwhile, the European Union has quietly created standards for organic beer, gluten-free beer and who knows what else. In most European countries drinking beer and wine in a family setting with meals, as a part of celebrations, and at family events and gatherings is so ubiquitous that they stare at us in wonder and bewilderment when we continually demonize alcohol. So it’s no surprise really that European doctors are studying ways to ease the suffering of women going through menopause by creating a special beer for them.

From the article in the South African iol:

Women struggling with the discomforts of menopause may soon find relief in a cold glass of beer.

Experts in the Czech Republic are working on a beer specifically brewed for women experiencing hot flashes, troubling sleeping and other woes during this phase.

The low-kilojoule, low-alcohol beer being developed by the Prague-based Research Institute of Brewing and Malting contains heightened levels of phytoestrogen, a plant form of the hormone estrogen often lacking in menopausal women, said the institute’s director Karel Kosar.

Phytoestrogen is found in the hops and barley malt used in many types of beer. Kosar said breweries could produce the special beer by increasing the levels of these ingredients.

A gynaecologist working with the institute reported good results from clinically tests with the beer on 20 women. The volunteers who drank three decilitres nightly for two months reported fewer menopausal symptoms.

I certainly hope they perfect it before my wife needs it. But that gives them twenty to twenty-five years which should be plenty of time.