WITH AN eye on reaching a wider audience for traditional ale, pub and brewery heavyweight Greene King is investing in a fresh wave of multi-channel promotion for its Old Speckled Hen brand.
The company believes that the brand – and the cartoon fox that stars in its advertising – can play a key role in breaking down misconceptions about the overall category.
Having researched the barriers preventing customers from ordering traditional ale, Greene King reckons that there is an opportunity to engage a wider audience of drinker by encouraging guests to ‘try something new at the bar’. Running on sports channels for the duration of May, tongue-in-cheek adverts featuring Henry the Fox are attempting to do just that.
Head of Marketing for Old Speckled Hen at Greene King, David Spencer, said: “We understand that it is vital for the category that we engage a wider audience with the unique flavours we have to offer and we’ve identified what triggers a consumer to drink ale and in turn what acts as a barrier to others.
“We found that consumers had concerns that ale wouldn’t be refreshing, that there was uncertainty about the flavour they’d get, and that the ale category just hadn’t had much to say to them,” said Mr Spencer. “Yet a few sips, served and enjoyed properly, could dispel all these doubts. We need to break people out of their habits and get them to give ale a try.
“To tackle the key barriers, we created our advertising campaign, which includes two humorous cartoon animations, featuring Henry the Fox discussing the well-known mantra that ‘you should try everything once’. The animations both conclude that a more sure-fire way to reward your curiosity is to spend time in a pub ‘discovering the unique taste of a refreshing Old Speckled Hen’.”
Mr Spencer said that by investing in Old Speckled Hen, Greene King aimed to prove its commitment to the ale category and its future, and planned to deliver hundreds of millions of impressions over the next 12 months, investing more in advertising than any other premium ale.
Parallel to investment in the cask category to broaden its appeal, Green King has also recently introduced Old Speckled Hen in CO2 keg form, which provides a quality keg option that still offers the complex flavours of the ale, but is closer in mouthfeel to more modern beer styles, such as lager and craft beer.
The aim is for Old Speckled Hen to thrive in both formats, offering the ale to suit different drinkers’ preferences and provide another route to engage a wider audience.
