Browsing: beer

News
Brewers Association of NZ enlists famous local boozers to push the real beauty of beer, but is it another example of ‘fake transparency’? – UPDATED
By

UPDATED: The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that the ‘Beer The Beautiful Truth’ campaign, which highlights the addition of nutrition information panels to product packaging and labelling, is not misleading. However, the ASA has partially upheld one element of the complaint, ruling that the Olympic gold medalist rower Eric Murray was a ‘hero of the young’ with special appeal to minors.

News
Beer for babies
By

Low-alcohol beers, wines and ciders are growing in popularity, due to a combination of changing drink driving rules, more concern about the health impacts of drinking and changing social attitudes to overt drunkenness. So far there have been a range of approaches used by the booze companies to sell their lower-potency wares, from DB Export’s comical surgeon, to Heineken’s Light Club or Brancott Estate’s Flight. But this bold approach to advertising zero alcohol beer spotted in Nishiki restaurant in Auckland stands out as one of the most creative. As it says: “Looks like a real beer. It’s beery beery yummy!!” They grow up so fast.

News
Summer brews or bad news: HPA continues with ‘Not Beersies’
By

While there has been a long-held perception that beer increases confidence, wit and the attractiveness of other people (okay, maybe this part is still true), the comforting alcohol blanket has gradually been pulled away over the years to reveal the sobering truth, that too much beer is more likely to make the drinker stumbly, belchy and obnoxious. The Health Promotion Agency and FCB have played on this with the year-old campaign ‘Not Beersies’, which champions the benefits of switching that beer for a water, launching a new ad to coincide with the beer-heavy summer period.

News
Wake up and smell the belief
By

Steinlager has gone to an extra effort to ensure rugby fans get up early to watch the game (and perhaps crack open a few Steinys later), by introducing the ‘Steinlatte’.

News
300,000 litres of biofuel and counting: a look at DB Export and Colenso’s attempt to move beyond the ad
By

Over the last seven weeks, the DB Export ‘Brewtroleum campaign’ has been encouraging Kiwis around the country to help save the world by drinking variants in the brand’s range. The only problem with the message was that the world-saving action was that it was limited to times generally considered appropriate for beer drinking. One could not, for example, open a DB beer at 11am in the morning and persuasively argue that this was an essential act. So, in an effort to overcome this problem and enable any person to lend a hand to the Brewtroleum cause at any given time, the brewery has created DB Export 0.0% Citrus—a lemon-flavoured lager with zero alcohol content.

News
Monteith’s launches digital game, hides clues in TVC
By

In addition to the TVC released in mid April, Monteith’s has launched an online game called The New Gold Rush. The player has to find the key to Monteith’s brewery on a virtual map of the West Coast. And if the instructions are anything to go by, then the secret as to the exact location is hidden within the TVC.

News
Shame on your name: NZTA shows the perils of old drinking habits, looks to change engrained middle-age behaviour
By

Back in December, the blood alcohol limit was lowered from 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams per millilitre, and while every human is different, that equates to about two standard drinks over two hours before drivers blow the bag. NZTA and Clemenger BBDO announced that change with a simple informational campaign. But, as they have been doing for years, they’re now playing the emotional card. PLUS: How the changes have impacted the booze business.

News
Moa says cheers to beers and pioneers
By

Moa Beer launched its new pioneer-focused packaging late last year. And its latest marketing initiative continues down that patriotic road by trying to bind us together through the sharing of stories of everyday New Zealanders, something it’s calling ‘How to Brew a Country’.

News
Data dump: mmmmm, beer
By

When it comes to alcohol, the tastes of the nation are changing, with wine, cider and more expensive, more interesting, high alcohol beer all on the increase. And this has led to a decrease in the consumption of mainstream beer. As president of the Brewer’s Guild Ralph Bungard says: “New Zealanders still love beer, there’s no doubt, but they don’t want to drink those classic big brands by the crate-load anymore.” So, as we head into prime drinking time, here are some trends on New Zealand beer consumption taken from ANZ’s report on the craft beer industry, which have been brought to life by Dot Loves Data.

News
Beervana puts some media thinking into craft beer drinking
By

Media folk have long been renowned for their love of a tipple. And, if the StopPress Towers are any gauge, many of them seem to have a penchant for the tasty, interesting and expensive beers emanating from some of the country’s numerous craft breweries. Every year, those two things are combined at Beervana’s Media Brew competition, which sees adventurous beer-loving journalists from around the country paired up with a craft brewer to develop a special, one-off brew. And Dish’s recently departed editor Victoria Wells and Hallertau Brewery took out the title with a NZ Wild Ale with Horopito. Plus: ANZ report suggests potential growth of 300 percent in the next decade for Kiwi craft beer companies as demand ramps up overseas.

News
Lion launches a Kiwi product with a Scandinavian name, aims to give non-drinkers an adult choice
By

Scandinavia is so hot right now. So hot, in fact, that when Lion decided to launch its new range of low-sugar sodas, the company chose an old Skaldic word thought to mean ‘connected’ as the name of the product. Dubbed Hӧpt and sold in bottles that that seem more suited to beer or cider, Lion’s new range of non-alcoholic drinks is currently being advertised via billboards as a soda alternative that “contains less than half the sugar of leading regular soft drinks”.

News
Cellphones off limits
By

First it was Coke telling us how it could cure our social media addiction, now a Brazillian beer maker has a solution that would make it impossible for drinkers to communicate using their cellphones. It proposes a cooler that would block connectivity and make bar dwellers very lonely indeed.

News
Steinlager’s social lubricant: the story behind Lion’s responsible drinking ad
By

Steinlager recently launched a fairly brave and entertaining responsible drinking campaign called ‘Be the artist, not the canvas’ that showed some creative/violating uses for marker pens, aimed to poke fun at those who over-indulge and marked a slight change in strategy for the brand. And, as brand manager Michael Taylor says, it’s gone down a treat with the punters.

Opinion
Craft beer: beware the pigs with lipstick
By

There’s plenty of excitement about craft beer at the moment. And plenty of debate about what that term actually means. But, after a big few days for the sector in Wellingtion, John Baker asks if it is the big boys making ‘faux craft’ or the new players making average product that are likely to do more damage.

News
Booze retailers follow the money with crafty sponsorships
By

There’s still plenty of debate about what actually constitutes craft beer, but the pundits can agree on one thing: consumption of it is on the rise, with an article on Stuff showing craft beer made up 13 percent of total beer sales over the past year at Foodstuffs, up from nine percent two years ago, and about ten percent of total beer sales at Countdown. And two of the country’s top booze chains, Super Liquor and Liquorland, both of which are fighting a battle against those supermarkets, can also see the dollar signs and have signed up to sponsor major events on the craft beer calendar.

News
Mac’s pushes the craft connection, Speight’s looks to the past
By

There’s been plenty of chat about craft beer recently, with the ‘craft beer you can actually drink’ campaign for Lion’s new Crafty Beggars range—and what some see as its duplicitous brand wank—ruffling a few feathers. Lion-owned Mac’s also sits in the ‘popular craft’ category and it’s also aiming to firm up its association with the term through its Craft Collective promotion.

News
Speight’s gets a crafty, modern makeover
By

It’s pretty tough going for the mainstream beers at the moment, with all the growth coming from the craft category and the old stalwarts struggling to keep up as palates change and new tipples tickle fancies. Speight’s Gold Medal Ale is still the country’s most popular beer brand by volume, however, and the brand has recently tried to become more craft-like and even branched out into—block your ears Southern Men—cider. So, in an effort to create a more cohesive family unit and ensure the flagship variety continues its reign, the brand has been given an overhaul by Dow Design.

News
Name creature, win beer
By

12 years ago a bunch of mates who loved good beer got together in a modest brew house and packaging line that was built from scratch in a disused crocodile farm near Fremantle, Western Australia, and created a pale ale. Now Little Creatures is expanding its range in New Zealand with three new brews – Little Creatures Pilsner, Bright Ale and Rogers’ Beer. So tell us what the coolest real-life little creature is (Pistol Shrimp all the way) and we’ll send out a few six packs to the best efforts.  

News
Clems brews up a storm with Wellington ‘street beer’
By

With a multitude of ads vying for our attention in meatspace, the onus has well and truly been put on agencies and media owners to become more creative if they hope to rise above the rabble. We’ve seen sports themed bus stops, exploding billboards, temperature gauges and a number of other interesting ideas outside. And Clemenger BBDO has taken it even further by brewing a beer inside an Adshel to promote the Wellington in a Pint initiative. 

1 2