Step change for Bombardier
Wells & Young's breaks new ground in the cask category with a new font design. Robyn Lewis reports.
Wells & Young's is today unveiling a new handpull design for its Bombardier brand, which takes its inspiration from lager fonts.
The brewer has spent a year on the project, investing a seven-figure sum in a bid to lure in new, younger drinkers to the cask-ale category, marketing director Chris Lewis revealed.
The new £500 font has been designed to make a key feature of the handpull and has cask beer emblazoned down both sides. It also has an illuminated badge and takes up less room on a bar than a standard handpull — the company says four of the new handpulls will fit in the same space as three of the traditional design.
"This is the boldest thing anyone has done in cask beer for the last 30 years," Lewis told the Morning Advertiser. "Prominence on bars and illuminated fonts have been important step changes in the marketing of beer," he said. "Yet in the cask-beer industry we have let other categories such as lager have it too easy by not shouting our presence on the bar in the same way."
The brewer believes the new font will boost the brand and the category by removing some barriers to trial.
"Our research shows that the traditional handpump suffers in comparison to shiny lager fonts and needs a more aspirational and stylish look on the bar," said Lewis. "We know that when we can get young people to try cask ale four out of 10 keep drinking it, so we just need to encourage them to get over their initial reservations."
The brewer has been careful not to let the new font alienate existing cask-ale fans, however, ensuring that the design highlights the fact that it is still a cask beer on a handpull, Lewis said.
The rollout, which starts at the end of the month, will begin through WaverleyTBS, chosen not only as "an important customer of ours, but also because of the different range of outlets it reaches," said Lewis. "We want to try this new font everywhere, from traditional country pubs to town-centre bars and even venues that are already known for their cask offer."
A cluster of pubs in the south-west will get the new handpulls first, before they roll out nationwide. The aim is to install 1,000 by the end of the year "at least".
Drive growth
The brewer hopes the initiative will drive double-digit growth for the brand within the first year. Some of this will come from new distribution opportunities, as it is hoped the new look will pave the way for cask ale into chains like Yates's and All Bar One. However the majority of growth is expected to come from a volume boost in those outlets where the new font replaces the old one.
In these venues the company estimates a 20% uplift in sales.
If the launch goes well, Lewis said the company will look at rolling out the concept across its other brands in time.
"We chose Bombardier not only as one of our top-selling brands, but also as it has the largest national footprint, and that gives us the opportunity to see this working across the board," he explained. "However, once we have got Bombardier right there is the potential to look at moving this into other brands."
Both the Young's portfolio of ales and Courage Directors have been earmarked.
The Wells & Young's launch follows two other high-profile handpull redesigns this year.
In March rival brewer Greene King launched a new "Revolution" font for its IPA brand, which along with a new lager-inspired design also offered consumers two choices of pour — "smooth & creamy" and "crisp & clean." And in February the Black Sheep Brewery launched what it claimed was the first fully illuminated pumpclip for its Black Sheep Best Bitter.
"We believe the new Bombardier font represents a huge step change for the category and we are pleased that other brewers have had the same insight," said Lewis.
With cask ale sales one of the few highlights in a beleaguered pub industry it will be interesting to see how a new lager-inspired image will affect a category enjoying a revival so far driven by its heritage.
