Who are they? It's difficult to see the word Holsten and not
Holsten UK is a subsidiary of Holsten Brauerei, Germany's largest brewer, founded in Hamburg in 1879. In 1965, Holsten Distributors was formed to sell and market the brand in Britain. Holsten UK operated as a joint venture between Holsten Brauerei and S&N until 1999, when it was formed as an autonomous company. Holsten's beers are still brewed to strict German purity laws, dating from 1516. "That's where Germany gained its reputation for good-quality beer," said Ben Peters, director of marketing. The equivalent of 126 million bottles of Pils are sold each year in the UK. Main brands: Unsuprisingly Holsten Pils (5.2% abv) is its biggest seller, and now the third-biggest-selling PPL in the on-trade. Employees: 77 Don't mention: The controversial ads. An article in The Times in October slammed a Holsten Pils poster featuring an "unattractive" woman and the line: "It's what's inside that counts". Times journalist Alex Payne said the message from the ad was: "Laugh at the ugly girl". A statement from Holsten read: "The essence of this particular campaign was to encourage consumers to look for inner qualities which in our case is the quality of the liquid inside the bottle." Future plans: Expanding Britain's beer palette. Holsten UK will continue to push its speciality beers in the coming months. Duckstein (4.9% abv) is billed as low in gas, which the company said makes it go well with food. Franziskaner wheat beer (5% abv), launched in the UK earlier this year, is aimed at younger customers who are willing to experiment. The campaigns will focus on ads in the consumer press and men's style magazines, and they are urging licensees to display tasting guides on blackboards. "People like to be knowledgeable [about specialist beer] like they do about wine," Peters added. "Our aspiration is to improve the level of beer appreciation in the UK market." Holsten Non-alcoholic is also being pushed, and don'tforget Holsten Export promotions for the popular 4.7% abv lager, given a new font design this year, will continue into 2004.
