Beer industry groups: “Beer shaming needs to end”
The three biggest beer trade organisations – the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), the Brewers Association (BA), and the Beer Institute (BI) – launched their “Beer Growth Initiative” on 24 September 2018, in an effort to fight against beer’s dwindling market share in the face of other alcoholic beverages.
It is a type of generic marketing for beer and it does not come too soon. Data from the US Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) show that between 2002 and 2017, beer’s share of the alcohol market has dropped to 46 percent from 54 percent, while wine has jumped to 37 percent from 30 percent, and spirits have ticked up to 17 percent from 16 percent.
The initiative is led by Tamarron, an alcoholic beverage consultancy, and is backed by a committee that includes members from all three organisations.
The group’s goals will include growing beer sales, and reaching untapped markets, such as women, minorities, and Generation Z consumers (those born after 1997). They seek to make beer “relevant” to these consumers with strategies such as digital advertising.
It is unclear for how long the campaign will run. But there has been talk that it could continue in 2019.
Introducing the initiative at the NBWA convention in San Diego, the outgoing NBWA Chairman Jim Matesich said on 25 September 2018, that the industry needs to work collaboratively towards the common good and stop running each other down.
As a united industry, “beer-shaming needs to end,” Mr Matesich told an audience of 1,600. He reminded them that whether consumers “are drinking a light lager or a pumpkin ale, they are drinking beer” and “those consumers should be the final judge” of the products they prefer.
