Cask ale has turned to that old adage: sex sells. John Porter looks at how brewers and pub companies are targeting younger drinkers
A blindfolded woman waits in vain for her husband, who has succumbed to the lure of another pint of Greene King IPA. Another young couple indulge in a sexy role-playing game which involves the lady miming the downing of a pint of Boddingtons. Remember when TV ads for ale used to talk about the beer? "Whitbread, big head, Trophy bitter - the pint that thinks it's a quart." The reality that sex sells is as well known in the pub trade as it is in the advertising industry. It's not that long since a story circulated about the chairman of a well-known family brewer who sat through a presentation by a trendy design company which insisted the only way to save the brewer's ailing city centre flagship pub was to spend half a million quid converting it into a YPV outlet. "Nonsense," said the old man. "We'll just employ prettier barmaids. That always works."
But haven't we seen all this before? Attempts to make cask ale appeal to male drinkers under 30, as well as - gasp - women, turn up more often than new Bacardi Breezer flavours.
So is it working? Opinion on the true state of the recovery of the cask ale market varies. Cutting through some of the more optimistic recent reports, AC Nielsen's cautious analysis of sales during 2001 shows that decline has slowed and distribution has steadied.
JD Wetherspoon's successful retail focus on the category has tempted others to follow and more pub operators are running regular cask ale promotions.
There also seems to be a renewed commitment on the part of the major brewers, evidenced by Coors' relaunch of the Worthington brand.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said that the chain's success has come through the general appeal of its pubs rather than a conscious effort to widen the focus of cask ale's appeal.
"The danger of targeting a new market is that you run the risk of alienating your core market," he said. "Cask ale's core appeal is to older, male drinkers and we don't want to do anything to drive them away - we'd rather have 500 unsexy people drinking in our pubs than one sexy one.
"But having said that, we are seeing more people under 30 and more women drinking cask ale, although the growth is from a very low percentage."
Staff training, tasting notes for customers and Wetherspoon's try-before-you-buy policy all help to encourage trial.
AC Nielsen analyst Graham Page said: "If cask ale is to succeed and grow in a declining beer market, much has still to be done."
Graham sees the important characteristics of the current cask ale market as a clear North/South sales divide in favour of southern brewers jockeying for position among the regionals, which now have 50 per cent of the market.
"With 'guest ale' rules gone, market forces will operate - only the best will do well," said Graham.
"The future trick will be to get cask ales to appeal to younger drinkers and women, and to re-establish regular pub-going and consumption with older drinkers."
Overall, he believes cask ales needs to be repositioned as a niche product - "though a substantial one" - sold at a premium price.
"Cask ale is genuine, real, proper, natural and live, so positioning linked with the growth in organic products could help," Graham said. "Many retailers currently sell nitrokeg at higher prices than cask ale, suggesting or implying one is superior to the other. If cask ale is the superior product, it should carry the premium, but only if product quality is A1."
While the move towards fewer, bigger brands may be inevitable, shifting the price point may prove more difficult. There seems to be a contradiction in the need to invest in product quality and marketing to attract new drinkers, while maintaining the value-for-money that the existing market demands.
Oxfordshire brewer Brakspear is said to be considering exiting brewing altogether because, despite increasing volumes, prices are being squeezed by the big pub operators.
Rooney Anand, Greene King's managing director of brands and brewing, said: "In broad terms, cask ale isn't enjoying double digit growth - quite the reverse. However, there are a number of brands that are."
He added: "I think there's an obsession with price. You can get the price that you demand if the product and message is right. People will happily pay £2 for a pint of beer."
So is the issue about presentation rather than quality? Greene King has introduced slender glassware for its Abbot Ale brand.
"If I give you cask ale in a different glass, it would change your perceptions - you eat and drink with your eyes, before you even get to taste it," said Rooney.
The success of authentic continental brands such as Hoegaarden, where presentation has played a big part in generating sales, is hard to argue against.
Alistair Hook, founder of Freedom Brewery and now heading his latest brewing venture, Meantime, said: "Cask ale is a wonderful product, and I genuinely believe it would be incredibly popular with younger drinkers if you could take it home.
"But by its very nature it has to be drunk in pubs."
Alistair said that he has worked with outlets which appeal to younger consumers to develop his trademark lighter, continental-style authentic beers.
"In the same way, cask ale could be made beautiful to women, it could be made beautiful to young people," he added. "There has to be the right marketing and commitment, but the key is distribution. Cask ale has to be sold through pubs, and pubs are owned by large financial institutions whose responsibility is to their shareholders.
"It's a delicate product and it's expensive to train people to look after it, so there's no real interest on the part of the big pub operators."
While praising the Campaign for Real Ale for its success in promoting cask ale, he criticises the pressure group's emphasis on maintaining low pricing.
"OK, it represents consumer interests, but there also has to be a recognition that quality needs to be paid for," said Alistair.
London brewers Fuller's and Young's are singled out by Alistair as having recognised that the link between brewers and pubs, lost in the new breed of national pub operators, is a driver of quality.
David Spencer, brand manager at Fuller's, said: "Regionals need to play to their strengths and highlight their points of difference, such as quirky, unusual beers."
Fuller's new cranberry variant of its Honeydew ale certainly seems to fit this bill.
"It's a very different flavour that works well with the honey. It has all the refreshment cues of a lager, but the flavour you only get with an ale," said David.
Nonetheless, Fuller's success has come not from quirkiness, but through its investment in transforming flagship cask ale London Pride into a mainstream brand sold at a premium price.
"If the product is good enough and the branding is strong enough, then the consumer will see that the beer is worth paying for," said David.
By maintaining a strong price, Fuller's has been able to reinvest in both product quality, and marketing, which in turn supports the cask ale category as a whole.
"It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You don't have to simply accept a declining market," David added.