Cask Ale Champions: Beer From The Coast

In the third in our series celebrating great champions of cask beer, we look at a great cask ale marketing campaign. Adam Withrington speaks to Adnams about its influential and award-winning "Beer From The Coast" advertising campaign.

In some ways marketing and cask ale are an odd fit. For such a traditional part of the drinks industry the partnership with marketeers seems to be an uneasy one - and there is no doubt some cask ale traditionalists turn their noses up at the idea that great cask beer needs to dip its toe into the dirty world of advertising.

But in a world where brand owners are struggling to get consumers into pubs, let alone drink their product, marketing is of massive importance. A great advertising campaign gives a beer brand something intangible - an X-factor that will bring more customers into the category. And that, surely, is the aim of everyone who cares about cask beer.

Adnams' "Beer From the Coast" marketing campaign is a perfect example of how it can be done. Debuting in August 2003, it has won several awards, including two at the 2004 Campaign​ magazine awards.

Now Adnams has announced it has redesigned the pumpclips for its entire portfolio of permanent cask ales as well as introducing new branded glassware.

Interestingly, rather than develop a fresh marketing campaign around these innovations, the brewer has decided to try and fit the innovations in with Beer From the Coast, so much has it come to define what Adnams is about.

Here marketing director Steve Curzon tells The Publican about the genesis of the campaign, what it tried to do and how it succeeded. More importantly however, he discusses the future of cask ale in the UK and how he believes the category is absolutely dependent on developing highly visible and well-marketed cask brands.

• What was the thinking behind the campaign?​

"What do consumers want in a cask beer? You need to create a communications platform people can identify with.

"Our first advertising campaign was very much focused around Southwold. It was charming and very credible locally but it was a problem for many people who weren't that familiar with the town. We realised that we needed to look beyond that but we still felt that we could stay close to home.

"The cask beer occasion is all about winding down, relaxation and socialising and the coast reflects this is many ways. The coast is refreshing, just like cask beer is refreshing. The coast is relevant to most people - no-one in this country is more than 75 miles away from it.

"So essentially we felt this was a real fit with the cask ale occasion. And the coast is, in general, more credible and relevant than us saying directly where we are from. I'm not sure there are any other brands out there that capture the cask ale moment as well as we do."

Why did your campaign succeed where others have failed?​

"At the heart of our strategy is a desire to develop a brand that is built on values like authenticity and provenance - in other words to create a modern day classic.

"One of the big challenges facing cask is retaining the best of your past and heritage and putting that across in a way that is compelling and relevant to today's consumer - instead of sticking rigidly to the past. That is a fundamental issue for the category as a whole.

"We are increasingly aware of the nature of our consumer. And in this case they are discerning consumers, which is in keeping with the premium positioning of cask ale.

"But this doesn't mean the story is simply about heritage and provenance. We have to cut through in terms of people's daily lives and routines. What is telling is there is a need for brands to give the vast majority of consumers the confidence that they are going to get a decent pint; to give them the confidence to go into the category and then stay in the category."

Did you think about changing the campaign following the redesign of your fonts?​

"A challenge with the campaign was embedding the brand icons into the illustration - so redesigning the pumpclips meant that we would have to introduce some new advertising.

"We did give serious thought to rebranding more radically than we actually did. But we felt it was important to keep up with the Beer From the Coast concept - although the new advertising includes the use of the beer glass.

"There was also a decision to bring the advertising line 'Beer From the Coast' into our packaging. It is now on our pumpclips and on the neck labels of our bottles. There is a real consistency of message. Even our web address has now changed to beerfromthecoast.co.uk."

What are the plans for Beer From the Coast for 2006?​

"We have got five new executions of the campaign this year. One is a significant departure for us as we are using a glass of beer in it rather than a pumpclip or bottle top.

"As far as long-term plans go, I would say watch this space. Maybe we could end up with a new campaign which will take a slightly new spin on the original, but for now we are happy as everything stands.

"The biggest problem area for us has been how we take this campaign online - there is so much potential there. So we are driving a strategy to talk to our consumers one-to-one. This is hugely important in two ways: we can hear from consumers first-hand and, secondly, we are investing in activity that is encouraging consumers back to the pub, and that is great news for our tenants."

How important is it to have big cask ale brands with significant marketing budgets? Doesn't that just push the category into lager territory?​

"Without question, the fundamental message has to be that there is a place in the cask ale market for everybody. But it needs to be recognised that while some lesser known brands do offer richness and diversity in the category - and that is great - if this is at the expense of the brands that are keeping cask ale in front of the eyes of the consumer, then that is wrong. If you take away these brands' means to do this then the category will suffer."

Why will it suffer?​

"Because outlets need to help the consumers with their cask ale offering. They need to give customers well-known brands they can navigate through. The vast majority of pub-goers don't know their way around the world of cask.

"And one reason for this happening is that the share of voice in the marketplace for cask ale has plummeted in the last 15 years. The overall marketing spend by brewers has done the same in this time, despite the best efforts of the regional brewers."