Advertising spending by beer brands doubled in the first month of this year against the same period last year.
During an atypical period for beer sales, the main players in this industry invested almost 7.3 million euros in advertising at rate-card (net sums can hit around 20-30% of rate-card), as compared with only 3.7m euros in January 2005. According to Alfa Cont monitoring, brewers in January benefited from 4,039 adverting placements, against 3,212 in the corresponding period of last year.
“The beer market is Romania”s most competitive market and players are investing and fighting for consumers” minds and choices. I think this will happen in 2006, as well,” says Mihai Ghyka, the new general manager of Interbrew Romania. He explained that in 2005, investments in advertising rose by 38% from 2004, against a context in which the market saw growth of no higher than 5%. “Per bottle sold, this is a 33% net increase in advertising spending,” explains Ghyka.
At the beginning of this year, brewers launched new alternatives for consumers. These are related either to packaging, the distribution channels a product addresses, or even the visibility of these brands. Thus, Interbrew launched Bergenbier cans in a collectible packaging that displays images of the national team”s matches.
URBB introduced a new Carlsberg bottle exclusively destined for locations within the HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant and Catering) system. Ursus Breweries started promoting a new brand, Stejar Strong Beer, while Brau Union boasts the biggest dynamic light advertisement in Romania, located in the centre of Bucharest. The ad is 45 metres long, 7 metres tall and weighs a total of 3 tonnes. According to Alfa Cont information, beer industry companies last year invested more than 164 million euros in advertising, compared with the 130 million euros invested in 2004.