Adam on... beer campaigns

Adam Withrington muses on the progress of the industry's attemptes to revamp the image of beer.

The British Beer & Pub Association's Beautiful Beer campaign was supposed to be the culmination of various industry attempts to definitively revamp the image of beer.

With the support of most of the main brewers in the UK it seemed beer's time for its well-needed makeover had finally arrived.

All had gone quiet with many of the industry's other attempts to revamp beer, such as Coors Brewers' own Beer Naturally campaign, which appeared to have gone off the radar.

And yet until a few weeks ago very little appeared to have changed. But suddenly the ground appears to be slowly shifting.

First we saw the launch of the official Beautiful Beer DVD. While it is only for use at exhibitions and for screenings on the Pub Channel, the people behind the campaign managed to persuade that doyen of food and drink journalists Oz Clarke to front it; just the right person to appeal to the wine-drinking masses brewers are trying to convert.

Even more impressive, and to be honest surprising, has been the sudden delivery of results by Beer Naturally.

Rumour has had it that several influential people in the brewing industry, working on behalf of Beer Naturally, have been taking some seriously influential drinks journalists to dinner at beer friendly restaurants (such as Le Gavroche in London) to convince them of the delights of beer and food over the last few months (and yes, I am still waiting for my invitation…). But rumour was all it seemed to be as I had seen no fruits of their labours in any national newspapers. Until last Saturday's Financial Times, which every weekend is home to one of the country's most respected wine writers, Jancis Robinson.

Her level of academic knowledge and passion for the grape is almost unsurpassed. So it was somewhat surprising to see her writing about beer.

Writing about her meal at Le Gavroche, Ms Robinson said: "[We were] served up a six-course meal, each served up with a suitable wine partner and, alongside, a suitable beer partner. At the end I can reveal that in only two out of six cases did I prefer the wine to the beer. A result for brewers everywhere!"

So it seems much of the work going on with Beautiful Beer and Beer Naturally has not been for show. Instead it has been done beneath the surface, laying solid foundations for future success. Having writers as influential as Ms Robinson being so positive is a result indeed and the word there is more to come from other papers.

However, there will be a time when the two will have to merge under the Beautiful Beer umbrella. The hard work both campaigns have put in is beginning to bear fruit but the industry should present a united front to the outside world if it is to really succeed in capturing the imagination of people.