Molson Coors has unveiled a multimillion-pound push for Carling, playing up the lager brand’s ‘local heritage’ to combat sales that have plummeted by £7.6m.
Its latest campaign, called ‘Made Local’, was “created to champion and support those who are making things happen in their hometown”, and features two adverts.
The first tells “the story of Carling’s provenance and the skill and dedication of its Burton brewers”, while the second features “a local LGBT+ Sunday League football team in Wolverhampton”.
The brand has also created a cinema spot telling “a wider range” of stories about people “making it in their hometown”.
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To accompany the push, Carling has committed to investing into community projects across the UK over the next three years by establishing a ‘Made Local Fund’. Projects that “make a positive impact on the local community” and are “at a grassroots, not-for-profit level” can apply for funding online, the brewer said.
Until recently, Carling had avoided the slump in sales faced by many lagers of similar strength and price, including rival Foster’s. At the time of The Grocer’s Britain’s Biggest Alcohol Brands Report in July 2018, Carling’s core lager was growing at 3% [Nielsen 52 w/e 24 April 2018].
However, latest figures show value sales of Carling’s core beer are now declining at 2.4% – bringing its value to £314.4m on volumes down 3.6% [Nielsen 52 w/e 26 January 2019].
The average price per litre of the lager has risen from £1.56 two years ago to £1.62 this year.
Carling brand director Miranda Osborne stressed mainstream lagers were ”still very much the cornerstone of the beer market”.
She said: ”Just looking at the real estate they take up on shelves is testament to how important this segment is to the category as a whole and why it deserves this investment.”
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