Archive for August, 2009

  • Scottish Licensing Shakeup

    31.08.2009 / Category: News

    Tomorrow sees the introduction of a massive update to licensing laws in Scotland. The new measures aim to combat an ever-growing alcohol misuse issue which costs the NHS over 2.5 £billion per year in the UK.

    The shakeup is not without controversy however, with the implementation being blasted a shambles. Due to mass confusion over the overhaul thousands of licensed premises in Scotland will be effectively trading illegally from September 1st. Because of this, local councils and police have agreed an unofficial grace period of several months to allow venues to adapt to the new rules. The alternative would mean the majority of licensed premises in Scotland would have to be shut down.

    Main points of the new rules ;

    • Off-Trade sales are restricted to 10am – 10pm
    • Shops are only allowed to display alcohol in one area of the store
    • One member of staff in each venue must be personally licensed after completing training on the new legislation
    • Happy hours and ‘2 for 1’ drinks offers will be banned
    • Tap water must be provided by all venues free of charge on request
    • Police will have the power to close nuisance premises with immediate effect
    • Any member of the public can now object to a licence application for any venue anywhere in the UK

    The deadline for local councils to process applications for personal licences has already been extended to November 1st, but huge backlogs remain to be cleared and it is uncertain whether this deadline can be met.

  • Bulmers Pear Off Draught

    28.08.2009 / Category: News

    Bulmers Pear cider has only been available on draught for less than a year, but Scottish & Newcastle have announced it is to be withdrawn in favour of the bottled variant.

    Marketing Manager Daryl Hinksman said ;
    “We believe that packaged pear cider offers more opportunity for growth. We have therefore focused our investment on this format rather than rolling out Draught Bulmers Pear.”

    Bulmers original continues to do well in draught format however and will remain available for the foreseeable future.

    The largest marketing campaign so far for Bulmers will be underway shortly, including four brand new advertisements circulated across mainstream publications such as GQ, FHM, Empire Magazine and newspapers The Observer, The Guardian and The Independent.

  • Diageo on the Up

    27.08.2009 / Category: News

    Diageo BrandsIn the face of challenging times for the UK’s entertainment industry, Diageo has reported an annual earnings increase of 10%. UK performance was up by 2% mostly due to strong sales of wine and spirits, with a market gain in the beer sector and solid Christmas sales.

    One area in which sales fell was with the Smirnoff brand, due to increased direct competition from several new players in the vodka market.

    The chief executive of Diageo, Paul Walsh said ;
    “This has been a very challenging year, overall however our results demonstrate the resilience of our business. Our brand range and our geographic reach enabled us to deliver 4% organic operating profit growth and 10% earnings growth”

    “While the economic downturn has affected all markets, the response of customers and consumers has not been uniform and therefore the impact on our business has been varied.

    “By region, International, North America and Asia Pacific have been stronger than Europe. By category, we have delivered growth in categories which account for over 50% of our sales, primarily vodka, rum, tequila and beer. The gin and wine categories have been weaker and scotch and liqueurs have been most impacted by de-stocking.”

    Diageo has recently been in the news for their decision to close a distillery and bottling plant in Scotland. The closures in Glasgow and Kilmarnock will lead to the loss of around 900 jobs and demonstrations are scheduled to take place in London. In response to the criticisms levied regarding the closures, Mr. Walsh added ;

    “We took action quickly to manage these difficult times, reducing our cost base and refocusing marketing spend as consumer trends changed. In fiscal 2010 we will benefit from cost reductions of £120 million as a result of our global restructuring initiative.”

    Diageo’s brands include several household names such as Guinness, Bells, Smirnoff, and Baileys.

  • New Budweiser Campaign

    26.08.2009 / Category: News

    Budweiser is about to burst back onto the scene with the launch of it’s biggest ever advertising campaign.

     Budweiser BottlesThe 9 week campaign will feature London Underground advertisements and University promotions as well as large scale poster campaigns across the country. In addition, press ads will run in several high profile newspapers and magazines such as Empire, Total Film, GQ,  Stuff, FHM and T3.

     In total Budweiser expects their latest campaign to reach over 3.5 million people in it’s target audience of 18-24 year olds.

     Marketing Director Andreas Hilger said ;
    “It’s going to be hard to escape the noise of Budweiser’s new ad campaign which goes live this week and is designed to really grab people’s attention,”

    “It is another reason why retailers should stock up with the UK’s biggest selling premium packaged lager so they meet increasing demand from consumers who will be seeing the advertising around 40 times.”

  • Plastic Fantastic ?

    25.08.2009 / Category: News

    Over 5000 people are injured as a result of glass and bottle attacks in the UK each year. Responding to this, The Home Office has commissioned a rethink, with a newly designed plastic glass looking like the probable ‘solution’.

    Pint GlassThere are fears however that the new plastic glasses will be made compulsory with little regard for the effect it would have on the drinker’s experience. The British Beer and Pub Association are against any move which would see plastic glasses compulsory.

    Expressing concern over possible legislation, Neil Williams of the B.B.P.A said ;

    “For the drinker, the pint glass feels better, it has a nice weight and the drink coats the glass nicely. That’s why people go out for a drink, to have a nice experience. I would ask, is it necessary to replace the much-loved pint glass for safety reasons in the vast majority of pubs where there is no problem?”

    “Pubs shouldn’t be put under pressure to stop using glasses if they are safe places to drink. Why on earth ask them to do that? They shouldn’t be corralled into using plastic glasses. Anything that would move us towards a plastic product would not be welcomed.”

    The man in charge of coming up with a new design is Nick Verebelyi. He explained to the BBC that at the moment there are two schools of thought ;

    “One is to coat the glass with a substance that will make sure the glass doesn’t shatter into pieces when it is broken – that could be a plastic material for example. But it would have to feel like an existing pint glass to the consumer.”
    “We could do something more radical, by looking at the whole shape and substance of the pint – we could come up with something that is completely different to glass. Remember that years ago people used to drink out of pewter tankards. It could be quite a significant paradigm shift.”

    Time will tell with both the design options and feasibility of such changes, but with the recession still biting down hard on the entertainment industry, any compulsory changes incurring additional costs are destined to be hugely unpopular.

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