Jameson is supporting retailers build excitement ahead of St Patrick’s Day on 17 March with a campaign focused on its Jameson, Ginger and Lime serve, which is easy for customers to replicate at home and will be activated across TV, digital, experiential activity and the on and off-trade.
Perry brand Lambrini has launched a line-up of limited-edition bottle wraps, together with a competition to win a brand-new Mini Cooper, in celebration of its British roots.
Ale brand Joshua Tetley & Son is launching its first range of bottled ales in four years, featuring Tetley’s Golden Ale and Tetley’s No.3 Pale Ale.
Christmas is crucial to the beers, wines and spirits (BWS) category and the week leading up to December 25 is the most important time, when 38% of December alcohol sales occur (Nielsen data).
Birra Moretti has launched its biggest brand awareness campaign in three years, championing the sociable nature of life between friends and family in Italy.
This summer Foster’s is giving consumers the chance to win a trip to Australia, as part of its on-pack summer promotion.
WKD is promising a multi-faceted campaign this summer comprising: a competition utilising caps from bottles bought in the off-trade; £12,000 of Ticketmaster voucher prizes; interactive festival fun at 11 events nationwide; and a DJ competition open to all offering the opportunity to perform at a major UK festival.
The premium vodka brand Absolut is adding a new flavour, Absolut Mixt Raspberry & Lemon, to its range of ready-to-drink (RTD) cans.
Two ultra-low-alcohol gin & tonic flavoured sparkling variants have been added to the Gordon’s brand.
To coincide with a summer of World Cup football, beer brand Carling has launched a promotion within the off-trade, giving consumers the chance to win cash.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a new three-year partnership with Australian winemaker Wolf Blass.
The alcohol market is arguably undergoing one of the most innovative and interesting times in its history with both big brands and smaller local producers bringing out new products at a rate of knots; and categories fragmenting into myriad niches that allow consumers to make new discoveries. An over-arching trend is a move towards drinking less volume but better quality, supported by off-trade stats from Nielsen, which show total take-home sales in 2017 were ahead by 4% in value, to just under £16.5bn, in a year when volume consumption actually fell by 1%.
Craft: Small is widely seen as good in alcohol at the moment, so much so that big global players have been busy buying up smaller players. In boutique gin, Pernod Ricard UK has taken a majority stake in Monkey 47 gin, Beam Suntory has bought Sipsmith and Campari has swallowed up Bulldog, while in beer AB-Inbev has bought craft brewers Goose Island in the US and Camden Town in the UK.
Consumer health concerns are causing big drinks' suppliers to look at their portfolios with alcohol-free, lower-abv and lower-calorie alternatives appearing in increasing numbers across many sub-categories. AB-Inbev feels the time may finally be right for Bud Light, the lower calorie version of Budweiser which lasted just two years after it was first launched in the UK in 1998. It contains just 27 calories per 100ml and has been brewed to 3.5% abv. A premium light lager, it is described as delivering a "fresh, clean and subtle hop aroma, delicate malt sweetness and a crisp finish". The company has also begun importing Franziskaner Alkoholfrei wheat beer while Heineken has launched Heineken 0.0, an alcohol-free version of its flagship lager brand.
After the post-Magners boom of the 2000s, cider has been having a tougher time lately and the category as a whole fell 2% in volume and 1% in value in the off trade last year, according to Nielsen.
The alcoholic drinks market is more dynamic and exciting than it's been for many years, pointing to a profitable summer for retailers if the weather delivers the goods.
The right to sell alcohol was a hard-won battle for forecourts. So it's perhaps surprising that, having gone to the trouble of gaining a licence, so many forecourt retailers are content to let their beers, wines and spirits (BWS) section take a passive role in the product mix rather than making it stand out and seduce.
In Scotland, obtaining an off licence can be a difficult task without a full understanding of the process. And with the Scottish Government having recently concluded a consultation on alcohol licensing laws, there is potential for significant change to the current legislation. Andrew Hunter, a partner in Harper Macleod and specialist in licensing north of the Border, looks at the state of forecourt licensing in Scotland and considers the key points to consider when applying for an off licence.