Stella Artois Cidre may not be set to launch in both the on and off-trade until Easter, but it has already proved a talking point.
Critics have accused the world's biggest brewer of destabilising parent brand Stella Artois in a market where beer sales are declining. Will the launch of a Stella Artois cider prove confusing to consumers? And is Cidre a convincing latecomer to the cider party? We met with UK president Stuart MacFarlane to put the record straight on the reasons for the launch.
Why do you think launching a cider is the right direction for you to go in?
When you have the nation's favourite alcohol brand and your consumers tell you they think the brand can go further, it is quite easy for us to develop into other categories. Stella Artois Cidre is the next phase of our innovation. We have developed this on a brief that our consumers have given us. So it's a 4.5 per cent ABV, crisp, refreshing liquid, that's very appley in flavour. That sounds very simple, but very few companies do their product innovation that way. They should.
How do you mean?
We have to stop thinking like brewers and start thinking like consumer goods companies. I think pubs need to think more like world-class retailers. The benchmark can no longer be the traditional pub. They should be benchmarking against Starbucks. A consumer goods brewer should be using Procter & Gamble and Nestlé as their benchmarks. I think this shows we are on the right trajectory as a company.
If we were thinking like a traditional brewer, we would not be launching Stella Artois 4%, Beck's Vier, Budweiser 66, and Stella Artois Black.
You're clearly very excited about this.
I've worked 20 years in this company, starting in a very junior role in finance. I am more excited about today than anything else I have done at this company. I really think this is an industry game-changer, and one of the most exciting things this company has done. It is just special.
Do you think it will confuse consumers, launching the drink under the Stella brand? It is in your power to launch any new brand you care to?
Absolutely not. That's the power of it. [Stella Artois] is the number one alcohol brand in the UK. And it's the nation's favourite beer brand. No other drinks brand can bring more premium consumers into the cider category than we can. Because the brands that are in there today are cider brands. They don't play in other categories. I don't think consumers will be confused at all. It is very different packaging from the Stella Artois green bottle.
Do you have faith in the continued long-term growth of cider?
Absolutely. The category is growing - depending on whether you go by value or volume, it is growing between five and 10 per cent. We believe our role is to premiumise the value and to re-stimulate the growth. I don't think the cider category is premiumising fast enough, nor having its next flowering of growth. We bring that. This has got an apricot, vanilla flavour to it which isn't really in some of the British ciders.
There are reports that there is a shortage of Belgian janagold apples for this and that it was going to limit your supply. Is that true?
I think we are extremely pleased by the reactions we've had from customers. We are upping our forecasts because the response has been so good. The demand is certainly greater for this than we had originally forecast.
Beer volumes are declining. Was that another reason behind the launch? Were you finding that customers were migrating to cider?
Why would we launch a new Stella variant, Stella Black, in the on-trade exclusively if we didn't see opportunity in beer? OK, we are in a declining market. I think people in other companies are not putting enough focus behind innovation. I would ask publicans to embrace things that are new in the industry because that is what will move our industry forward.
What would you say to criticisms of you that you are off-trade biased?
They're not true. I think our brands are as relevant in pubs as they are in supermarkets. I think we have fully put our credentials on the table by launching Stella Artois Black exclusively in the on-trade. And we are 100 per cent focused behind Beck's Vier, which is an on-trade brand. Those comments are not at all based on any facts.
And you're there to support pubs?
Abso-bloody-lutley.