Near Beer

Here’s a recipe for summer fun: Take a well-known liquor brand, add a national brewer’s manufacturing and distribution prowess, then stir up activity at key on-premise accounts.

Voila, you have “malternatives.”

Flavored malt beverages are the hot ticket for brewers dogged by slow growth in beer sales and eager to inspire young men (and, perhaps, women) to quicken their quaffing. It’s the fastest-growing segment among wine, beer, and spirits, rising 26 percent last year and projected to skyrocket 108 percent this year, according to Morgan Stanley Forecasting, New York City.

ACNielsen pegged prepared alcoholic drinks as the fastest-growing food or beverage product last year: Worldwide sales jumped 33 percent $2.7 billion, while beer sales (including ales and lager) rose five percent to $60 billion.

Malternatives accounted for two percent of the 202 million barrels shipped by U.S. brewers last year, per Beverage Marketing Corp., New York City. That’s nearly 70 million cases — not bad for the segment’s second year.

Miller Brewing Co. launches four brands this year via partnerships with Skyy Spirits, Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide, and Allied Domecq. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch pushes five-month-old Bacardi Silver (with Bacardi USA) and its own two-year-old Doc’s Hard Lemonade and three-year-old Tequiza.

Guinness/UDV jumpstarted the category last summer with Smirnoff Ice; at 25 million cases in 2001, it was the fastest-growing new malt product since Bud Lite. Guinness will put $85 million to $95 million behind the brand this year, with $20 million to $25 million earmarked for promotions and the rest for advertising.

Inside Ice

Smirnoff Ice runs an Inside Track contest through summer, with two flights of prizes (in May-July and August-September). On-premise collateral drives consumers to smirnoffice.com, where they answer a hypothetical question about a one-of-a-kind experience to win; entries are judged on creativity, originality, and “capture of the brand essence.” First-phase winners get a stint as Stat Boy on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, a night out with Dave Attell (star of Comedy Central’s Insomniac), or a private recording session with Third Eye Blind; the second pool includes a seat in CBS’s broadcast booth for an NFL game, a stint as guest VJ on VH1’s Fresh, or a date to spin records in London with U.K. DJ Tall Paul. Players also can enter via tearpads at retail.

A half-dozen field managers coordinate local overlays with bars, retailers, and radio stations. Colangelo Synergy Marketing, Stamford, CT, handles. A Super Bowl campaign is in the works.

Inside Track dovetails with ads tagged “Intelligent Nightlife” that show Ice drinkers getting access to cool stuff like a Lear jet or exclusive hip-hop club. J. Walter Thompson, New York City, handles ads.

The prizes leverage Ice’s media buys (via Grey’s MediaCom division, New York City). “We spend a lot of money on ads,” says James Stammer, Ice’s senior brand strategy manager. “We went to top partners including CBS and ESPN and said, ‘We do a great job co-branding with you. Can you create a property for us that no one else can get?’”

The exclusive gigs help Smirnoff Ice reach twenty-something bar-hoppers. “We’re catering to consumers who want to impress, so we picked opportunities that cater to that personality type,” says Stammer.

Ice has grabbed a one-percent share of supermarket beer sales and a 1.5-percent share of c-store sales, per Stammer. Word is Stamford-based Guinness has other malternatives in the works, including a tequila drink.

Milwaukee-based Miller’s new stable includes Skyy Blue, which bowed in March with $40 million in support; Stolichnaya Citrona and Sauza Diablo, which rolled nationally last month backed by about $50 million between them; and Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola (via Brown-Forman, New York City), which debuts on-premise in late June with a masculine pitch, then rolls off-premise nationally by September. Marketing Drive Worldwide, Wilton, CT, handles promos for all four brands.

Jack Daniel’s will host launch parties at which consumers vie for tickets to private concerts dubbed Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola First Call. TV, print, and P-O-P ads break in fall. Miller expects JD’s cola flavoring to give it year-round appeal, compared with more seasonal citrus drinks.

Allied Domecq, New York City, collaborates on Stolichnaya Citrona and Sauza Diablo, and may lend Miller more brands if these two do well. Citrona brings camaraderie to bars with “Comrades” sampling teams who give away red armbands and take photos of folks drinking the brand. Off-premise P-O-P displays play up Stoli’s Russian heritage.

Sauza Diablo’s female “Diablettes” samplers videotape bar patrons’ confessions of devilish deeds to be posted on the brand’s Web site. The demonic branding extends to off-premise P-O-P materials.

This summer, Skyy Blue (via Skyy Spirits, San Francisco) takes advantage of its large ad buys in such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Stuff, and In Style to exclusively sponsor events including private concerts, club openings, and movie premieres with sampling and premium giveaways. On-premise sampling and off-premise P-O-P support.

Busch Leagues

Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, launched Bacardi Silver in February with $60 million in marketing support including projectors at retail that beam the brand’s bat logo on walls. Momentum, St. Louis, handles. This summer, the brand sponsors powerboat champ David Scott for American Power Boat Association races.

A-B has done well with Tequiza (composed of lager beer, tequila, agave nectar, and lime), claiming it’s among the top four high-end beers in supermarket sales. A Tequiza Sizzling Summer sweeps runs through August dangling a sailboat as grand prize.

Deja Zima

Coors Brewing Co. pioneered malternatives with Zima, which launched in 1993. The Golden, CO, brewer introduced updated packaging for the oft-maligned brand last month. “As the malternative segment heats up, we are looking to give Zima a bolder and more modern image in the eyes of our target consumers,” says brand director Marilyn Quinn.

Underdog Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co., Lakewood, CO, runs a random-draw sweeps awarding two grand prizes of four Big Dog motorcycles. Entrants list three friends who’ll share the win — a boost for Mike’s database. The brand also sponsors NASCAR, and its Ultimate Party Wagon tours bars, taking photos to post on Mike’s Web site.

Does that classify as on-premise?

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