The battle of the cider marketers: Johnny Appleseed versus Smith & Forge
Is it the lure of the ampersand that we got Gieves & Hawkes (tailors), Fortnum & Mason (food store), Gilbert & George (artists), … plus tatties & neaps, blood & thunder, shock & awe, and now Smith & Forge, a new cider launched by MillerCoors in the United States?
Obviously, the ampersand (“&”), linking something & something or somebody & somebody, is a very conventional word form in English. Adding a sense of history and authority, it’s being used more now because of this general retro mood that everyone’s into over in the UK, marketing buffs say.
The 1990s and early 2000s were pretty modern, techno, progressive, hi-tech etc. It was common in those years to simplify marketing language into a sort of “newspeak” of acronyms, abbreviations and serious rationing of the definitive article. However, it looks like these days we all like tweeds and brogues and floral print dresses as well as the homely appeal of the ampersand.
The renaissance of the ampersand is not limited to the UK. In the U.S., there is a tradition too of linking names by it: popular culture’s Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday, Starsky & Hutch, Rizzoli & Isles, Lois & Clark spring to mind.
But in the U.S., there is no immediate retro chic to it, or an “olde worlde” connotation that consumers will grasp immediately. Hence MillerCoors’ new cider brand Smith & Forge, which came out in March 2014, had to lay on the feel of times-gone-by thickly by using the moniker “A Sturdy Drink for the Hardy Gent” and giving its TV ads a pre-Prohibition look (one features a mutton-chopped blacksmith).
In contrast to MillerCoors’ nostalgic Smith & Forge, rival AB-InBev opted for a more “crafty“ appeal for its new cider. It will be called Johnny Appleseed and launched on 7 April 2014. Non-Americans will find this brand name only mildly funny, while Americans will think it a hoot. But it’s this sort of tongue-in-cheek humour we have come to expect from the craft brewers and AB-InBev have already used it to their advantage when they launched their Shock Top range of beers.
In terms of cider marketing, nostalgia has been pitched against humour. How the battle will end is hard to predict, since both sides will support their launches with huge budgets. And it’s usually the biggest wallet that wins in this sort of game.
However, both launches are timely. Big Brewers’ beer sales in the U.S. are falling and beverage makers are looking to expand their offerings to make up the difference. While still much smaller than beer, cider sales grew nearly 100 percent in the 52 weeks ending 26 January 2014 to USD 220.7 million, according to IRI, which excludes bars and restaurants.
AB-InBev have had ciders before, but these were brand extensions of beer brands. In 2012 they launched Michelob Ultra Light Cider, following it with the national rollout of Stella Artois Cidre. Perhaps they did not perform as expected or AB-InBev need not have opted for another brand.
Likewise MillerCoors. Although their high-end Crispin cider brand was not a brand extension, it still only managed to control a market share of 3.5 percent in 2013 according to IRI.
Incidentally, the two Big Brewers are now playing catch-up to Boston Beer’s Angry Orchard cider brand, which has grown rapidly and controlled 52 percent of category sales in 2013, according to IRI.
Now that’s a challenge Johnny Appleseed and Smith & Forge will savour.
