The great PPS challenge

Licensees are faced with an increasing array of PPS to put behind the bar. Ben McFarland takes up the challenge to sort out the good from the bad.​ It used to be so easy. Pub-goers would either ask for a pint of beer or lager, a half of beer or lager or a beer or lager in a bottle. And if they were really showboating they'd go for a port and lemon or a gin and tonic. Everyone knew where they stood, it was nice, and it was simple. But then those pesky drinks companies had to go and complicate things. Fruity alcoholic drinks with flashy packaging, funky names and a fistful of marketing money invaded pubs up and down the country. Why they did it I'll never know.Everyone tried to ignore them, hoping they'd go away, but they didn't and now the battle for space in the nation's fridges and the minds of impressionable young adults is getting out of hand.With trends continually changing among 18 to 24-year-olds and barely a week going by without a new weird and wonderful concoction being unleashed onto a premium packaged spirits (PPS) sector already at bursting point, it is unfeasible to expect publicans to know what on earth to put behind their bar, let alone be "down with the kids" as it were.And the drinks companies behind the brands don't help either by bamboozling licensees with marketing babble and sales gibberish. Predictably, they all claim to be superior than their competitors when it comes to taste, image, fridge standout, advertising and the like - but they would say that wouldn't they.So, we decided to cut to the chase and settle the matter once and for all. Three Croydon pubs, 13 premium packaged spirits, six random 18 to 24-year-old judges (three boys and three girls) and four gruelling disciplines came together for the inaugural staging of The PPS Challenge, sponsored by The Publican.The rate of innovation is such that an exhaustive catalogue of all the premium packaged spirit would be unfeasible so a selection of some of the leading, and, er, not so leading brands have been chosen.Judges​

The competitors ​

First discipline: Packaging​ ​Method:​ All the bottles in each pub were lined up in a row and the panel of judges were asked to judge them solely on appearance of the bottle. The age-old adage that "you can't tell a book by its cover" does not apply when it comes to this market. PPS represent the ultimate in "badge drinking" and the way it looks in your hand is as important as what it actually tastes like.Out of the two heavyweights in the sector, Bacardi Breezer and Smirnoff Ice, both the lads and the ladies unanimously favoured the latter. Ice's minimalist packaging was described as "nice and simple," and "a lot more slick than Breezer". The Breezer label was "too plain" and "didn't match up to the advertisements" according to one female panellist, while everyone agreed it was due for a makeover. Predictably, two out of the three women liked the look of the female-friendly Archers Aqua range, especially the condensation effect, but the boys said they "wouldn't be seen dead with it." Zest, with its unappealing sediment, was panned by the entire panel for "having horrible looking bits in it" while the aggressive silver, red and black Reloaded Red Square bottle got an equally hard time when criticised for looking "cheap and chemical".Everyone thought the Reef looked like a fruit juice and some preferred the old bottle while the Vodka Kick range "looks like something from the 80s", and won few plaudits. But it was the apple-flavoured Vodka Source, with its "stylish clear see-through bottle" and its "clever fruit design", that claimed first prize in the packaging stakes. Amazingly, WKD Blue managed to sneak into third place despite unflattering comparisons with "dental mouthwash" and "the liquid used in nappy and tampon adverts".Packaging Podium: ​

• Gold:​ Vodka Source (pictured)​
• Silver:​ Smirnoff Ice
• Bronze:​ WKD Blue

Second discipline: Advertising and promotions​​Method:​ The panel was asked to recall an advertising campaign, promotional drive or slogans for each of the competing brands. Extra marks were given for any positive feedback about the respective campaigns.Last year, PPS brands invested more than £25m on TV, cinema, radio and press advertising, not to mention promotions, sponsorships and sampling campaigns.Dancing cats, lads that sleep with their mate's mum and a man with frozen hair who shakes a lot, are just some of the ways brands are trying to ingratiate themselves with the "yoof" of today.Bacardi Breezer's £2.2m Tom Cat advertising campaign was widely known and everyone, bar a single male dissenter, liked the feline philanderer although "not enough to buy it or try it," said one chap.Smirnoff Ice's "As clear as your conscience" campaign, remembered by everybody, got a unanimous thumbs-up from the entire panel and even sparked a high-brow debate about the aesthetic qualities of their friends' mothers.Confusion was rife among the panellists about whether Archers Schnapps' "Come out to play" campaign - which, true to form was favoured more by the females - was designed to promote the Aqua offshoot or the parent brand. It is, in fact, both.Beverage Brands' claim that consumer recall for the "Have you got a WKD side?" campaign was as good as that of rival Smirnoff Ice didn't ring true among the group. A lone male tried in vain to champion the adverts with sketchy descriptions, "you know - the one with the fake wall and the lift", but, alas, it failed to ring any bells among his peers. Bass Brewers chiefs will be miffed