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June 17, 2002 - Strategy Magazine
News

Image isn't everything in Canada's local beer wars
Regional suds slingers creatively duke it out with the heavyweights

by Geoff Dennis
page 1

Ding, dong. The door swings open, party chatter, laughter and clamorous music escapes, and a guy's head pops out; he props the door open while clinging onto two unopened Alpine beers.

"Is this your dog?" asks a sweet, smiling, pretty brunette.

"Spot!" he exclaims, over-dramatizing his relief.

He nervously thanks her for finding his wounded canine and invites her in to join the raging party. Spot, on the other hand, remains faithfully outside. Noticing the brunette is safely out of earshot, Dave whispers to his trusted companion who's now magically cured of his limp, "we're a little short on blondes."

Music swells again and Alpine's slogan is announced, "Alpine, you gotta live here to get it."

That slogan, which conjures the notion of exclusivity, with a little help from Spot the dog, has proven to be very successful for Saint John, N.B.-based Alpine, which is in a heated battle with beer giant Budweiser in New Brunswick.

It's the same story across Canada. Smaller, regionally brewed beers are forced to compete with the infinitely bigger, deep-pocketed brewers, Labatt and Molson. There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, but any smaller brewery from Labrador to Victoria would equate the beer war to a David and Goliath-scaled inequity.

Often, the best strategy to win the local battles is through fun, well targeted marketing, like Alpine's, which champions the philosophical difference between the Davids and the Goliaths.

Regional brands obviously don't have anywhere near the budgets and resources to market the way Labatt and Molson can. Most observers estimate both brands' advertising budgets to be well over $40 million, whereas regionals are generally under the $1 million mark. Television is the main benchmark: a strong TV spot can cost over $1 million, which is why it is rare to see commercials from regional brands - they just can't afford it - so most take a grassroots approach.

"Craft breweries must adjust to be a part of the tapestry of the beer market," says Stephen Beaumont, author of five books on beer, including the second edition of The Great Canadian Beer Guide. "They have to be louder, they should stand up and shout 'we're cool and different, we're unusual and we're a part of the mainstream, but we taste better.'"

Alpine has adopted that approach with Spot at the helm. A revived mascot from over a decade ago, the crafty pooch is back in the "Limp Dog" commercial produced by Toronto's Goodgoll Curtis. Focus groups conducted before Spot's resurrection confirmed that consumers wanted him back; the older generation remembered him fondly and younger drinkers recalled seeing the dog in old commercials. With Spot returning, Alpine set to the task of snagging drinkers in an already heated beer war.

"The old idea was that you had to get beer consumers by the time they turned 19, then you'd have them for life, but now that's not the case," says Steve Porier, Alpine's VP of marketing. "The people we target, the 25- to 35-year-olds, are loyal to a brand because of its taste, not like younger consumers who shop and drink based on the price."

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