No baseball caps!
"The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer", Oscar Wilde has Lord Henry say to the dandy Dorian Gray. "In that case, let our friendship be a caprice", SABMiller, one of the world’s biggest brewers, might have answered Antonio Berardi, celebrated fashion designer of celebrities and wannabees.
Their up-to-now rather sporadic co-operation in support of the Peroni beer brand has been considerably extended, maybe not to a life-long passion, but to a solid long-term partnership, initially set for five years.
What, you may rightfully ask, drives the world’s number two brewer to associate itself with an Italian designer not many down-to-earth beer drinkers will have even heard of? Certainly Mr Berardi won’t leave his world of luxury and glamour just to design some of SABMiller’s run-of-the-mill merchandise like baseball caps, umbrellas and key rings with the company’s name in pretty neon-coloured letters on them – or will he?
At the launch-party for the premium Italian beer brand Peroni Nastro Azzurro in London last month Mr Berardi presented to the press a leather travel bag, the "Jetsetter", which is shortly to be followed by other exclusive luxury items, and left no doubt that the Italian beer brand and the British designer have in fact a lot in common – a distinct affinity to style, elegance, passion and creativity, at least that’s what they want to make us believe.
The limited edition of luxury goods will be labelled "Peroni by Antonio Berardi" and it will go on sale in selected high-end stores throughout the UK within the next months.
It’s been a long way for Peroni Nastro Azzurro to become a premium brand. Before it came into the SABMiller fold, Peroni had struggled in vain to enter the world’s pizzerias, although the pairing of the typical Italian dish with a typical Italian beer should not have seemed too far-fetched.
In 2003, SABMiller came along, dished out the initial sum of EUR 246 million and thus obtained a majority stake in the former family-owned brewer Peroni.
Next SABMiller’s marketing team thought up a strategy, invested in a USD 50 million global marketing campaign and finally re-launched the Italian brand with a convincing marketing concept. After all, what is Italy famous for? The answer: design.
Two years after the purchase, in March 2005, SABMiller opened London’s first non-shopping designer shop, confidently named “Emporio Peroni", in Sloane Street, right next door to other leading Italian brands such as Armani, Gucci and Versace.
The shop was so exclusive nobody was admitted inside. The showcase displayed only one Peroni bottle, revamped in stylish green and quite attractive in contrast to Peroni’s previous brown bottle with its unexciting red label.
Since then SABMiller has not grown tired of reminding the world that Peroni Nastro Azzurro stands for passion, style and elegance.
In support of this claim, SABMiller subsequently worked together with famous and preferably Italian designers. The partnership with Alessi, for example, led to elegantly designed products that nevertheless still related to eating and drinking: a sleek chrome ice bucket and a sculptural bottle opener.
Last year SABMiller launched Peroni in Moscow, once termed the Big Cabbage because cabbage is at the centre of the Russia soul. Non-Muscovites call it that because like cabbage it has many layers, a hard heart and is full of wind.
Wealthy Muscovites, probably in an effort to dispel that image, have since become the most brand-conscious, if not brand-obsessed consumers in the world.
Hence it was a logical first choice for SABMiller to have Mr Berardi in tow when Peroni was introduced into the Russian market, since the British designer who recently stunned fashionistas with his heel-less black latex boots had already become the toast of town.
Moreover, considering that the target demographic – 25 to 35 year-old Russians – are already crazy for Italian fashion, food, motorcars and ski resorts – this seems like a no-brainer.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Mr Berardi is better known in Russia than in the West. Mr Berardi’s range of clothes is available all over the former Soviet Union in more than 30 stores. This is quite an astonishing number if compared to the 14 stores in Italy and the single one in UK.
In Russia, premium beer brands represent about 13 percent of beer consumption but they account for about 20 percent of brewers’ revenues. Over the past five years the premium segment has grown steadily. Whether it will continue to grow as strongly during the current economic crisis is an open question. But since premium brands have always been the tipple of choice of wealthy Russians, it seems highly unlikely that the premium segment will witness a lot of trading down.
So far SABMiller’s marketing strategy seems to have worked out well: consumers in selected markets like the UK, South Africa and Russia are finally taking note of this brand.
Whether consumers will drink the beer and then say to themselves –“I must have that Berardi travel bag!” – let’s say, from SABMiller’s point of view, it is worth a try. Market observers are sceptical: cross-over partnerships like that between Peroni and Berardi have become quite popular recently, but they tend to be short-lived. What is more, they seldom generate profit and it’s disputable if they pay off beyond the benefits of prestige.
And one should never underestimate the fundamental risks of becoming a fashionable brand. Witness the decline of Stella Artois in the UK, one of InBev’s premium brands.
Maybe SABMiller should have Stella Artois’ rise and fall in mind and think up a Plan B – just in case.
