There’s A Beer For That has announced two major partnerships and details of its extensive marketing programme that challenges consumer perceptions around the quality, diversity & versatility of beer and encourage behaviour change to drive beer category growth. The partnerships are designed to reach and influence discerning drinkers and are part of a wide range of initiatives including new online video & digital advertising, an expanded social & digital programme & continued education and promotion programmes in pubs & retailers.
“Our campaign to reignite Britain’s love of beer encourages consumers to think differently about beer” commented David Cunningham, Programme Director of There’s A Beer For That “and working with Guardian News & Media (GNM) and Foodies Festivals provides two very effective, ways to reach & engage our target market.”
Guardian News & Media is the publisher of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers and theguardian.com, one of the largest English speaking quality newspaper websites in the world. “They have an excellent reputation for mouth-watering food & recipe content across all media” continued Cunningham “and we look forward to working with them to show their enthusiastic and inquisitive readers, how brilliantly beer pairs with food.
“The partnership with GNM will incorporate a range of insertions across all mediums and includes advertorials, food and beer features, educational features, display adverts and a bespoke 16-page supplement. We believe that this will reach an audience who may not yet be familiar with the versatility of beer matching with all kinds of food, but will be open to the concept and we will be maximising the exposure that the partnership brings us.”
The second partnership is with Foodies Festival, the UK’s biggest food festival, described by The Guardian as “High profile festivals, each with its own distinct local accent”. The affiliation covers all ten festivals across the UK in 2017, starting with the Brighton Festival, running from 29h April – 1st May.
“We are showcasing the diversity of beer to new audience through Foodies Festival” commented David Cunningham “These people already have an astute and perceptive opinion of the best tasting food. It’s a natural next step to showing them that the right beer can enhancing the taste of great food even further. We’ll be working with some of the top Beer Sommeliers and know that they’ll enthuse their audience and encourage them to think about choosing beer with their meals in the future.”
There’s A Beer For That will have a bar at every Foodies Festival where visitors will be invited to try a beer and appropriate food match in an informal environment with a series of interactive mini-tutorials running throughout the day. They will also hold a daily beer masterclass session at the Drinks Theatre hosted by a range of Beer Sommeliers.
This announcement follows confirmation of There’s A Beer For That’s support of a series of trade initiatives for Beer Day Britain on 15th June and the four-day celebration running through to Father’s Day on 18th June. Seven pub groups have now signed up to take part in the festival, including Star Pubs & Bars, Admiral Taverns, Shepherd Neame and Greene King and are drawing on #cheerstobeer point of sale produced for the event as well as There’s A Beer For That collateral already available free of charge. “Beer Day Britain is a great opportunity for the whole beer industry to promote the quality, diversity & versatility of beer” continued Cunningham “and it’s not too late for brewers and retailers to get involved. We’re continuing to provide a range of materials for anyone who wants to take part and we will be driving awareness & participation in the four day Beer Day Britain festival through the Guardian.”
As well as being supported in the Guardian, Beer Day Britain will also get a high level of digital support as There’s A Beer For That develop a social toolkit for trade partners to use in their own channels. “Our digital programme is growing quickly” added Cunningham “illustrated by the recent successful launch of our Instagram channel. We currently reach around 350,000 food lovers on Instagram each week with great beer and food photography curated from brewers, pubs and Instagrammers. We have also extended the #beermatch tool to our website enabling users to request a beer match for any dish (www.beerforthat.com/beer-match) and visitors will also soon be able to click through to purchase the beer that’s been recommended too.”