All Bottled Up

Consumer product marketers have been forced to get more creative with their P-O-P in order to ride the growing "less is more" wave, which is making retailers rethink what they will and won't accept. It's also making it increasingly difficult for in-store programs to get the type of effortless execution they received as recently as five years ago. Beer, wine and spirits marketers have not been immune to these changing times, but considering the complex, and limiting, state requirements that dictate where and how they can merchandise their products --both on- and off-premise -- their jobs are often doubly difficult.To stay in the game, most marketers of beer, wine and spirits are fine tuning their P-O-P efforts by focusing more on programs with the highest likelihood of compliance; developing fewer but higher-quality pieces with more emphasis on premium imagery; creating a consistent look and feel across all their materials; tying in their P-O-P to radio, TV, and print campaigns; and continually trying new ideas.Like P-O-P in any industry, beer, wine and spirits materials must be high quality eye-catching and easy to set up, with an increasing emphasis on modularity and retail customization. But whereas other marketers can freely expand their reach through cross-promotions, giveaways or sweepstakes, the marketers in these categories sometimes find their hands tied. In addition, the rise of import and regional brands and increased competition from other non-alcohol beverages have also created a very interesting and challenging alcoholic beverage."What I'm seeing, I don't like," says Gary Heck, president and owner of Korbel Champagne Cellars, Guerneville, Calif. "I'm seeing less P-O-P, less cross-merchandising and I'm seeing retailers, especially major chains, cutting back on the amount of floor space and merchandise people are allowed to have. Things were getting progressively 'more' in 1997, 1998 and 1999, they declined in 2000, and now I'm seeing even less in 2001."Retailers are increasingly adapting "clean-floor" policies and many smaller and independent retailers prefer less obtrusive, smaller pieces that won't clutter their stores or obstruct their view of the store and its customers, two possible reasons for this decline in point-of-purchase.Another reason, Heck suggests, might be recent consolidation among major retail chains, causing changes in policies about floor merchandising as well as a growing preference for "just-in-time inventory" that doesn't require heavy investments in putting brands out on the floor. Either way, he doesn't understand it, since wine and champagne are heavy impulse items, and the right P-O-P can help a retailer sell more. "A lot of times people don't go to a grocery store to find champagne," he says. "So if they stumble over it, they'll say, 'Oh yeah, that would be nice.' I'm hoping this trend is because of 'Millennium hangover.' There was a lot of champagne left over after the New Year. In other words, a lot of money tied up in inventory."Joe Jones, director of retail marketing for Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, sees two distinct trends developing in beer P-O-P: a heightened need to make an impact, and an increased focus on form and function, what he terms "utilitarian" materials like racks that can be customized easily to fit a variety of accounts."Retailers want clear communication of item, price and message," Jones says. "And you have to do all this within the confines of their footprint." For example, Miller's off-premise P-O-P varies according to the type of retail outlet. A grocery chain might be the best target for an endcap, which lends itself to more creativity. Liquor stores or convenience stores, which have more severe size constraints, are better suited to items like display racks, he says. "And if we're going to put a display rack in a market, we might change the development of that piece so we can communicate a brand or thematic message through a header card or a hanging piece, which then also communicates item and price," Jones says.Another way that Miller tries to maintain its competitive edge is by creating pieces that are proprietary to Miller and its brands. Jones notes that several such displays are in development, and their role is critical.While some marketers are figuring out how to deal with less P-O-P at retail, others are intentionally putting out fewer pieces and programs. "Our philosophy is to focus our wholesalers on certain programs," says Dan McHugh, director of retail sales promotion at Anheuser-Busch, St Louis. "We're giving them priorities. Back in 1996, we might have done 124 programs nationally We've cut that back to about 40 national programs, just for focus. It's more important now to focus on what your priorities and strategies are."Many market segments have also gotten much more competitive, causing marketers to rethink their positioning and how they want to be viewed. This competition is coming not only from within each alcohol category, but from other brands across the entire beverage market."It's harder to do everything because there are so many brands," says Lori Logan, brand manager at Barton Brands, Chicago. "I do think the retail accounts are backing away from P-O-P because there are so many brands out there."Beer manufacturers have also been forced to step up their merchandising efforts as the beverage marketplace grows more crowded. "As this growth continues, brands are being challenged further to communicate their imagery, and that places an increased focus on quality and execution," says Miller's Jones. "Then, in addition, there are new brands coming out into the beverage marketplace, such as energy and health drinks, as well as flavored beers, and that creates even more pressure. So there are consistently new things coming into the market that can be considered competitors."The Image Is the MessageAcross all three categories, marketers are even more concerned these days with conveying the right brand image and communicating the right messages. As more companies take the "fewer but better" approach, they're focusing more of their attention on higher-value premium brands, creating displays that convey the premium message, however subtly. Tanqueray, which focuses more of its P-O-P efforts on-premise, is one of those brands striving for the premium message, especially for a product like Tanqueray No. 10, the brand's new super premium gin."It's all about getting a presence in the right places," says Steve Meyers, senior brand manager for Tanqueray, London. "You want to get your name or your brand in a key location on the back-bar, but at the same time a lot of places don't want to commercialize too much. When we think about all the places we want to be with our P-O-P, those are almost all the places that don't like to take branded materials or promotions because they don't want their consumers to think that they're just taking whatever anybody brings their way, and feeling overly commercialized. With No. 10 it's been a real challenge because we've decided to do smaller quantities of pieces, but make them higher quality. It's about being in 10 of the right places rather than being in 100 places and having only three of them be the right place."For regional brands competing with national brands with much deeper pockets, P-O-P is taking on an even greater role of establishing a presence. Yuengling Brewery, "America's Oldest Brewery," is just starting to get into the P-O-P game more heavily. Having always produced a select group of pieces like antique pub mirrors, Yuengling's original goal for its P-O-P was just to get its name out to people, using generic pieces touting the "oldest brewery" tagline."Now we're starting to slowly make a transition into more specific brand identity," says David Casinelli, vice president of sales and marketing for the Pottsville, Pa.-based brewery. "We have six different brands and we are starting to get more individualistic with those brands and creating custom P-O-P pieces."Another regional brewer in Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh Brewing Co., brewers of Iron City and I-C Light, among others. This year marks the brewery's 140th year and the company will be celebrating the milestone with on-premise "birthday parties," as well as bringing back the brewery's old logos from the last 140 years.Like Yuengling, Pittsburgh Brewing's main P-O-P goal is to establish an identity and compete with the larger brewers. "Being a regional brewer we have a certain presence, but it's necessary to stay highly visible," says Chris Antone, director of marketing. "With all the national brands in the market, we have to use P-O-P effectively, and we do try to get out as much as we can."For its Iron City beer, the company uses P-O-P for branding, to keep it visible and on people's minds. With I-C Light, it uses P-O-P to "hit some points that people may not be familiar with a little harder," Antone says. "We use our P-O-P to express the 96 calories, the 2.9 carbohydrates, the 0 grams of fat."While lesser-known brands use P-O-P to establish their identity, major brewers focus on maintaining theirs. "Our presence and the image that we're putting out there is something that's changed over the years," says A-B's McHugh. "We're really careful, particularly with brands like Budweiser and Bud Light, associating them with the type of imagery we want to portray. We're very image-oriented."The trick is to maintain a brand's image and message even while creating national programs that must be somewhat generic in order to fit a variety of accounts."Well do thematic point-of-purchase for different holidays that is generic in nature and can be put up anywhere," says Kevin Kramnic, Modelo brand manager at Barton Beers. "But we try to take it a step further in some accounts and customize it. We try to stay within their decor but at the same time retain the image for our brands. If we're able to do that and still hit our goal with the local buyers, then we've done something right."Reports from the FieldSo, given that retailers are skittish about too much P-O-P, competition is tough and some of the laws are even tougher, then how are marketers dealing with these issues? By getting more creative, making more visually striking pieces and exploring ways that they can, where legal, tap into cross-promotions to drive out-of-category sales."We're coming up with more programs every month," says Korbel's Heck. "When we do get a display up there, we don't hold it now for 30 or 60 days. We have to come back with a different program, a different tie-in with some of our partners."At Robert Mondavi, Oakville, Calif., the focus is on smaller, educational pieces, and the company has found that bottle neckers, brochures and shelf talkers work well, as opposed to large, mass-market displays. "We're trying to create items that stores will put up, because they're allowing less and less paper," says Laura Welch, senior marketing manager at Robert Mondavi.For Jim Beam Brands' spirits products, promotions manager Chris Hess notes the company produces P-O-P for ongoing and quarterly promotions. Each of these has its own off-premise and on-premise elements. For off-premise, in addition to paper items, Jim Beam Brands, Deerfield, Ill., offers several displays for larger case stackings, anywhere from four to 50 cases. Hess adds that on-premise paper items include banners, table tents and posters, as well as branded utility items such as bar mats, caddies, napkins or glassware.Pittsburgh Brewing Co. develops P-O-P for all holidays and also ties in with Pittsburgh's professional sports teams -- the Steelers (football), Pirates (baseball) and Penguins (hockey) -- with poster schedules and other items, especially on-premise. For example, football season brings with it cooler giveaways and tailgate packages. In 2000, Pittsburgh Brewing did an outdoor camping series titled, "Take Iron City Camping with You," which included tents, folding picnic tables, playing cards and sleeping bags tied-in with the brand. "Based on how large the distributor was, they could buy in to each of those items," Antone says. "Mostly they were consumer giveaways as well as something we could display at off-premise locations."Motion and ModularKorbel's Heck is a fan of motion displays, given the right retail environment. Korbel produced a Millennium-themed, LED-display countdown clock, and then came back for New Year's 2001 with another LED display that had seven different messages, allowing it to be changed throughout the year.At Barton Beers, modularity is one of the watchwords as the company develops promotions for its large portfolio of Mexican beers. For its summer displays, Barton uses a modular display piece that can be used on an endcap or open in the lobby area of a grocery chain, for example. "So if it's a very large center floor display, we can go up to 500-, 600- or 1,000-case displays, or we can bring it down to as small as a 10-case display," says Kramnic. "That's something we've really gotten behind in the last couple of years -- making the P-O-P adaptable to the situation our wholesalers need to fit."On another side of Barton, Logan focuses primarily on pieces like backbar displays, in addition to paper goods, and her newest piece is a backbar glorifier for Thor's Hammer Vodka, the company's super-premium vodka. The glorifier, like the vodka, is directed toward high-level bars and restaurants, with Barton targeting the major market vodka accounts."For Thor's, the glorifier is saying, 'look at me,'" Logan says. "We're trying to stand out in a terribly saturated niche and trying to say we are a little bit different. The bottle is not the tall, thin, girlie type that's been popular of late. It's a short, stout masculine type bottle and the glorifier reflects that."Our pieces are lighted and small. They have our logo on them and they get the point across," Logan adds, noting that in her experience, displays that are too large or too involved don't work too well on-premise. "When we first introduced Thor's, we had one display that was bigger and it was a plug-in unit," she says. "The plug is just not a logical thing for bars."Cross-Promotions Are KeyMarketers love cross-promotions for several reasons. They allow them to get their product in front of more consumers, perhaps the shoppers who wouldn't have made it down the beer, wine or spirits aisle but whose eyes are caught by an alcohol display in the aisle of complementary products. Cross-promoting also allows for marketing costs to be shared across two budgets rather than one. And these promotions take a variety of forms, varying with the time of year, retail outlet and region of the country.Off-premise, Barton Beers' goal is to "create some excitement for the consumer," says Kramnic. "If we can do a tie-in with a chip company, then we actually have more impulse purchasing by the end user walking down the salsa aisle, getting to the endcap and seeing a tie-in with Corona and salsa. On-premise, an account might say, 'A beer promotion by itself? That's great but what can you really bring me?' And that's when we start doing tie-ins."Playing off its tropical themes, Barton has done tie-ins with Jimmy Buffett for several on-premise events and also does cross-merchandising with Tequila, creating a natural combination, Kramnic notes. Barton has developed a range of P-O-P that ties in with its Mexican theme for both general market accounts and Mexican accounts. For its thematic programs, Barton Beers has also developed a turnkey kit, which it leases to its wholesalers. "It's pre-packed with everything you need to decorate an account," says Kramnic. "Now, no one can say, 'I need to grab some table tents, a banner or pennant string.' Now it's, 'I've got the bag and I'm ready to go.' And if it's a large account, they grab two bags. That's been a great success for us, in order to get the execution at the wholesaler level and also have everything necessary for the retailer."Korbel does three promotions a year for its wines that are usually tied to food, such as a grocery campaign highlighting Sauvignon Blanc with fish. Other promotions vary by area of the country, as well as by what wine Korbel is trying to promote in that area. Also an Olympic sponsor, Korbel does contests, where legal, to win a trip to the Olympics.At Jim Beam Brands, cross-promotions are active on the wine and spirits side. For wine, "We are looking to tie our off-premise P-O-P efforts into our sponsorship of the Rick Bayless, Mexico, One Plate at a Time cooking show," notes Ramona Giderof, promotions manager at Jim Beam Brands. "So we came up with the 'Gourmet Getaway' sweepstakes hosted by Bayless and our winemaker Mick Schroeter, where legal." This promotion offered five grand prize winners the chance to fly down to the company's winery, stay two nights at a bed and breakfast, receive a tour of the winery and vineyards and have Bayless prepare dinner for them in the barrel cellar. Jim Beam Brands also tied in with another show sponsor, Weber, which donated grills and accessories as the other prizes.On the spirits side, Jim Beam Brands develops cross-promotions with its own brands and offers items with purchase, such as Jim Beam Black Pinnacle golf ball offers.It's the LawSelling and merchandising beer, wine or spirits is a complex issue, with each state setting regulations about how, where and when alcohol can be sold, displayed and merchandised, and with which products it can be cross-promoted. The effects of these requirements can leave marketers feeling a little, well, bottled up.California recently passed a law limiting coupon program offers to a maximum of $1 off on a cross-merchandising promotion with wine. "So that wipes out sweepstakes," Heck says. "You can do a $1-coupon, but that's it. You can't give $5 off on a wedding cake, or $25 off. You can't do any of that in California anymore."At least he's not in Pennsylvania, a "brutal state" according to Antone of Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Under Pennsylvania's state-controlled liquor system, the company can only sell its product in beer distributors, six-pack shops or in bars, and cross-promotions with food are prohibited."With all the rules we have, it's hard to believe that Yuengling and Iron City have survived as two of the oldest regional brewers in the country," Antone says. "You're not able to buy a bucket of wings and a half-priced pitcher. You're not allowed to have any type of incentive to purchase the alcohol. It's difficult when you go into other places and you see what the trends are."Integrated MarketingMarketers are increasingly creating common themes among their P-O-P materials and their other marketing vehicles. At Miller, this is referred to as "360-degree marketing." In other words, the company attempts to reinforce its brand imagery by ensuring that all its media -- TV, print, radio and outdoor ads, as well as P-O-P -- are all communicating consistent messages. Competitor Anheuser-Busch also keeps a careful eye on all its marketing messages. "Sometimes we'll take our advertising properties and bring them down to the P-O-P level, like we do with Bud Bowl or the Wassup guys," says McHugh. "It depends on what works and what doesn't and what our retailers and our customers are asking for."Hess at Jim Beam Brands Co. notes that for spirits, "All of our marketing efforts are integrated. Our P-O-P materials have the look, feel and attitude of our advertising and vice versa. In addition to brand advertising, we do print and radio ads for our quarterly promotions. We always want to make sure our audience identifies immediately with our brand whether they're in a liquor store, at their local bar, reading Rolling Stone or listening to the radio." For its Bayless wine promotion, Jim Beam Brands ran print advertising promoting the sweepstakes in some markets, utilizing the artwork from its point-of-purchase to tie the programming together.In addition to creating a common theme across all media, marketers are working to achieve a common theme across brands. For example, Barton Beers and Robert Mondavi each have several brands in their respective portfolios, and each has an individual look, Kramnic and Welch note. However, within each brand, there is an attempt to create a common look.With all the changes taking place in the alcohol beverage market, has the role of P-O-P, and the marketers' goals for it, really changed all that much? Barton's Kramnic sums it up, saying, "Part of P-O-P's role is to educate the consumer and to reflect your brand image to the consumer. But that's always been its role. I think the way we present the P-O-P and how we are restricted within certain large chains to what we can and can't put up, that's changed. But what we're trying to get across to consumers hasn't."

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