MdV beer e-news,1-19-06: Beer Point-of-Sale
Lindemans lambics for Valentine’s
Day! Unique & delightful, just like
your valentine:
www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/lindemans_for_valentines_day_06.pdf
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock
bottles are available year-round in the
www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/Ayinger_Celebrator_Draft_06.pdf
Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale
2005-2006 – the first British Winter Warmer ever imported to the
www.merchantduvin.com/pages/5_breweries/samsmith_winter_welcome.html
Beer festivals, dinners, and events
are offering beer lovers all across
www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/news.html
Beer Chat from the
Chances are your favorite pub is
fully decked out in promotional beer items: signs, banners, posters, logo
glassware, table tents, neons, logo attire on the staff, coasters . . . Likewise, when you are in your favorite beer
store or market, you’ll see everything from small informational shelf talkers
to full-sized inflatable NASCAR racers built into giant 150-case floor
displays. All these items are designed
to get the consumer to decide to purchase that beer. That is the “point of sale,” and promotional
goods have come to be known in the industry as “POS.”
Yes, brewing beer is without a doubt
a magic mix of craft, art, science, history and inspiration. The proof is in the bottle or keg. Beer folk prefer to talk about beer, but
somehow we end up spending a lot of thought, time and money on POS. In the current world of fine beer, most
suppliers think that POS is important to either “make placements and move
product” (to the sales department) or “build brand awareness and increase
long-term market share” (to the marketing department).
Selling beer is good old-fashioned
hard work & effort, in a very competitive venue. The variety of fine beer available in the
The first POS was probably a logo
scratched into a cask or ancient drinking vessel. A brewer who already had customers wanted to
keep them loyal; the logo represented quality, flavor, place – the concept of a
“brand” that continues to speak, even when the brewer is not present. As the decades and centuries have rolled by,
brewers began to outdo each other, from simple logos to signs to neons to
inflatable NASCAR racers.
Table tents, bottle neckers, and
shelf talkers are all information-based devices that may describe flavors, or
tell history, or list awards. They are
especially appreciated by consumers who have never tried that particular beer.
Coasters are functional
drip-absorbers that give a gentle brand reminder. Logo glassware and logo attire allow the
bearer or the wearer to proclaim, “I drink or I sell this beer.” They emphasize to people that the particular
brand is out there, and they may indicate some broad customer support. Fancy mirrors, backbar displays, and neons
take it a step further, alerting consumers that a retail account sells this
beer.
Then there are the “wow” items. They are so big, or so cool, or sometimes so
creative that they make people stop in their tracks. Sometimes they have built-in motion features,
or they are made custom to celebrate a local sports championship. These items frequently are costly to produce,
so they tend to be made by big breweries.
Coincidentally, the “wow” items often have little to say about the
actual flavor of the product . . .
We do have beers that are the world
benchmarks for their style, made by family- or abbey-owned breweries from the
finest ingredients, according to historical tradition and brewers’ skill. We like to think our own Merchant du Vin POS
represents our beer well, but decide for yourself whether POS works to help you
choose the beer to buy.
Merchant