tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post4564150578889167412..comments2023-10-29T15:56:46.073+00:00Comments on TOTAL ALES: There's A Beer For ThatAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-56005165032819207832015-08-06T22:55:46.002+01:002015-08-06T22:55:46.002+01:00I just hate the twee poetry in the ad SO MUCH. So ...I just hate the twee poetry in the ad SO MUCH. So much that I had to make this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVkwr_Og_wLEChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11291226946416941481noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-19915698761489041242015-07-09T23:44:09.795+01:002015-07-09T23:44:09.795+01:00The best you can hope is that people who see the a...The best you can hope is that people who see the advert will google "There's a beer for that" and fall on pages like this... Quit whinging about the ad and do the talking the advert doesn't..... Let's do the job for them..<br /><br /><br /><br />My favourite beers are Proper Job from St Austell Brewery, Mild from Penzance Brew co., & Beast Porter from Exmoor Ales.. <br />& there are some amazing Lagers coming out of the southwest atm too!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-63288956168150045702014-11-15T23:36:28.830+00:002014-11-15T23:36:28.830+00:00Since reading your post I've read numerous oth...Since reading your post I've read numerous other posts about the same subject, and all of my musings about it, I think, have been said. What got me first when I saw the ad and then looked at the ‘TBFT’ website, was the thought of 'big business, what are you up to?’. I'd read an article from a web post last year about 'real ale' and it was the writers opinions on the 'business' of real ale that was interesting (link to article at bottom). One quote that resonated was "Real ale, according to conventional business theory, should no longer exist". I think the article could be from 2011-2012, I'm not sure, but knowing the growth of craft beer in the last few years even, this has always stuck with me as an interesting comment, on the business of beer.<br /><br />As many people have clearly pointed out, this is the mega(tron) brewers not knowing what to do about the continuing growth in ‘their market’. I work for one of the multi national/global food/personal/home product manufacturers, and I see week on week what changes in the market can do to a company. How they have to react to changes in demand, and predict what consumers will want. There’s been some hilarious ‘dad dancing’ moments when it comes to approaching social networking and trends! [Did you see any at the ‘TBFT’ launch Matt?]. They are selling brands, hoping consumers will stick with a brand, getting sold its ‘quality’ and ‘how great it can make them feel. <br /><br />I’m sure the mega brewers want this too. Craft beer drinkers I’m sure don’t. That’s the whole point: ‘Choice and variety are market strengths’. All the craft brewers win, from the drinkers everyday search for the next great beer! <br /><br />The ‘trojan-horse’ is a good metaphor for what the mega brewers are doing. Or, ‘that cousin that seems nice and wants to hang out with us as he’s got no friends, but then gets really drunk, is a bit racist and thinks he’s really funny, makes us look like racists, and we can never get rid of him’. Basically, a bad idea in the long-run.<br /><br /><br />http://www.businessballs.com/realale.htm<br />Original blog contained within piece: http://www.charlesfoster.co.uk/?p=500 [March 2011]ALARMISThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18137631188615378078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-1917983929472634192014-11-10T15:39:14.442+00:002014-11-10T15:39:14.442+00:00Thanks Dave, I'll leave some further comments ...Thanks Dave, I'll leave some further comments over on your own excellent piece. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-14516525953540634162014-11-10T11:42:07.762+00:002014-11-10T11:42:07.762+00:00Well done Matt, the whole thing is a Trojan Horse,...Well done Matt, the whole thing is a Trojan Horse, I think you totally get what the campaign is about. I written my thoughts on my blog.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11319272987951077205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-39677880347206379972014-11-04T12:20:10.296+00:002014-11-04T12:20:10.296+00:00This is a great analysis and the point about the c...This is a great analysis and the point about the campaign showing that the 'big boys' don't know what to do is spot on. I also spoke to the Frank PR duo at EBBC14 and one thing that worried me was that they didn't seem very interested in beer; that's why they were sober and we were more exuberant I guess. I found the ad reminiscent of the early "Every little helps" Tesco ads, so the catch phrase might just work out (referencing Apple is a bit naff but probably won't hurt), and obviously men with northern accents have a natural air of trustworthiness, but the lack of focus on a brand makes this very difficult to pull off. I don't see the point either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-77172672308554224152014-11-04T10:22:26.285+00:002014-11-04T10:22:26.285+00:00Thanks for the support mate. Time will tell if the...Thanks for the support mate. Time will tell if the rest of the campaign is worthwhile but my judgement is remaining firmly reserved until I see how it all pans out. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-47218748571427965732014-11-03T23:13:41.067+00:002014-11-03T23:13:41.067+00:00Hi matt. You succinctly managed to point out that ...Hi matt. You succinctly managed to point out that there is no point in this campaign. Have you googled it? Your blog post already posts higher than the actual website for there's a beer for that. Excluding paid advertising. Even the website is a useless holding page with no information. If it gets people drinking beer and thinking about beer, great... Hopefully they will discover proper beer not the sponsor's dishwater. I hope the events and tastings themselves are well thought through although I wouldn't fancy trying many of their beer with food. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-70821377801078573582014-11-03T17:03:22.318+00:002014-11-03T17:03:22.318+00:00If it's a quality message they're trying t...If it's a quality message they're trying to convey then without question it's piggybacking. We're talking about the people behind Stella, Heineken, Budweiser here. They're not suddenly going to discontinue these products and replace them with higher-end versions. Their sales are on the decline and they need to shift units, serious units. Underneath it all that's what this campaign is about. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-17404509395703443242014-11-03T16:17:25.709+00:002014-11-03T16:17:25.709+00:00I'm not in advertising so what I'm going t...I'm not in advertising so what I'm going to say is probably all a load of crap....<br /><br />Big TV advertising campaigns don't generally get talked about by the general public. The only one I can think of that has been is the John Lewis Christmas ads. So judging the success of something by how much it is talked about is a limited thing. If this campaign gives people 'good vibes' about beer, which maybe counters the steady negativity we often see in the media, I think that is positive. If people feel good about buying something they will buy more of it. And that is going to help the smaller players as well as the big. Particularly as there is a 'quality' message rather than beer just being treated as a commodity. I just don't see the piggybacking that you seem to...not denying that the big boys wouldn't love some of the cachet that craft and so on currently has, but I can't see that this advert is doing it.Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-71755620519728504242014-11-03T16:06:38.520+00:002014-11-03T16:06:38.520+00:00thank you, it's what us readers want.thank you, it's what us readers want.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-14045739591864596292014-11-03T15:31:36.728+00:002014-11-03T15:31:36.728+00:00Mark, thank you kindly for your comments, almost a...Mark, thank you kindly for your comments, almost a blog post in its own right. Great to see so many people are on the same page here. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-85635791830151687132014-11-03T15:30:14.651+00:002014-11-03T15:30:14.651+00:00I'm not sure if I'm angry, at least not an...I'm not sure if I'm angry, at least not any more, although I certainly was when I left the corporate backslapping session that was the campaign launch last Wednesday. <br /><br />I think what really gets my goat is that the campaign leaders openly admit that both the Real Ale and Craft Beer sectors are growing whilst beer in general is on decline - meaning that it's the big, low cost, high turnover brands that are suffering. The whole point of this campaign IS to piggyback off the success of real ale and craft beer by attempting to lump these categories in with their own. I personally feel that the positive message you speak of will actually largely pass the people this campaign is aimed at by. All of the discussion about it is seemingly only happening within the industry be it from breweries, bloggers or publicans and very little of this will actually influence anyone outside of the drinks trade. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-82549423271912740152014-11-03T15:23:34.965+00:002014-11-03T15:23:34.965+00:00Thanks for your kind words and comments, it's ...Thanks for your kind words and comments, it's really reassuring to read that a lot of people are on the same page as us here. Best of luck getting the Peoples Pub Partnership off the ground, I'll be watching with interest.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-60397772931330215922014-11-03T15:17:55.318+00:002014-11-03T15:17:55.318+00:00Thanks Paul, much appreciated. Thanks Paul, much appreciated. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-56185768921062796952014-11-03T15:17:38.841+00:002014-11-03T15:17:38.841+00:00My Mum quite likes GI IPA as a matter of fact. My Mum quite likes GI IPA as a matter of fact. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-59051825143007821772014-11-03T15:16:43.292+00:002014-11-03T15:16:43.292+00:00All apologies Cookie, next time I won't work o...All apologies Cookie, next time I won't work on a post for five days in order to create a (relatively) well reasoned response, I'll just knee jerk one out straight away. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-81580830071165377132014-11-03T15:15:48.424+00:002014-11-03T15:15:48.424+00:00I think they rinsed all of us for our insights tha...I think they rinsed all of us for our insights that weekend Paul. Interestingly I had a good chat with the PU guys about the barrel served beers and the barrels are actually lined with pitch prior to them being used for storing beer. This means that no flavour from the barrel is imparted into the beer and that any woody notes you detect are either from the high amount of yeast/protein in the beer or it's totally psychosomatic! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362693914759656245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-30194109678625446462014-11-03T11:56:51.428+00:002014-11-03T11:56:51.428+00:00First things first, this is terrific writing and t...First things first, this is terrific writing and that should be noted. <br /><br />I was surprised by the initial reaction to this campaign, as it was fairly positive. There's no doubting the new advert looks perfectly nice, probably because it's so heavily plagiarised from others. What I’m missing about the entire campaign, that started with the first phase, is the point. I don’t understand what is planning to be achieved from lobbing £10million at this. Who is the target? Who is supposed to benefit? <br /><br />It’s been stated plenty of times that this campaign “isn’t for us.” We should not criticise it because we’re not the target audience. But, even though people have come up with all manner of lists as to who actually is, I am still confused. “Beer,” used as a loose and generic term by the bigger companies who all seem to be involved in this, doesn’t promote anything to a crowd who see drinking Hoegaarden in the way Beer geeks see drinking Pliny the Elder. Ultimately, people will watch the advert and think “Hey, I like beer,” as if they’d forgotten and then reach for a pint of Carling. If that is what they like, then fine, but they haven’t rethought the way they drink beer at all. <br /><br />As for food matching, I still see that as something that is for beer enthusiasts – and why not? It’s a next level idea, a step up from simply going to your favourite beer shop and buying the most exciting new beer imported in. Going to the shop and choosing a beer based on what you are having for tea – even I don’t do that. I wouldn’t have an Imperial Stout with Kung Po chicken, but that’s about as much as I care to acknowledge. If I do want to take it further, there are plenty of blogs and sommeliers out there who I could just ask directly. This beer match bot is just the worse. <br /><br />So I am left still scratching my head as to what this campaign will achieve. I agree that it’s a little bit of a shame to see the names of some of the people involved in it. I also agree that some of them could have utilised that money for something much better than a twee advert anybody could have thought of. It is their response to an increasing interest in independent, and better, brewers. It tries to be inclusive of all beer, to be the utopian family under one roof as if that is what any of us want. We don’t want that because of corporations like those involved in this who are responsible for so many pub closures. 'hey we don't care what you drink, just so long as it's beer!'Nailed it.<br /><br />So by all means, let’s try and ignore it, since it isn’t for “us” anyway. The advert itself did make me smile when I first saw it, so they obviously managed to reach me with it in some way. It’s where the rest of the campaign goes from here and what it stands for that will annoy me. I can generalise “Beer” too – and it’s a great community with great people. There’s already a lot of beers for that - and I’m tired of people who weren’t invited to the party trying to gatecrash, destroy and then copy it. I’m glad you were at the launch so you could write all this up for us. Great post<br />Mark Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08120450909482158409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-10409022984493298782014-11-03T11:43:23.493+00:002014-11-03T11:43:23.493+00:00I'm not really sure what you are angry about t...I'm not really sure what you are angry about to be honest. Is it the money you think is wasted? Well it's the big boys dosh so who cares if they waste it. Is it that they aren't showing themselves as the evil peddlers of piss we all know them to be? It's not exactly a new thing for the breweries to try and show themselves as having a quality product. That's been Stella's selling point for the last 15 odd years. Trying to piggyback on craft beer? I'd agree if you are talking about them releasing new beers to try and take control of that market. But this campaign doesn't seem to make any reference to craft. I'm not sure what you expect or want 'big beer' to do. Other than maybe slowly whither away and die.<br /><br />I think the campaign is quite good in terms of being a positive message about alcohol, when we are bombarded by negativity all the time. And it's nice to see some beer advertising that isn't overwhelmingly laddish. I'm not convinced it will change much, but at the same time I can't see that it will harm anything either.Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-78859212839345222962014-11-03T11:41:42.666+00:002014-11-03T11:41:42.666+00:00The most dreadful point about the whole Let There ...The most dreadful point about the whole Let There Be Beer and all that nonsense you describe so well is that because of the way our beer and pubs sector is structured all of this is inevitable and NONE of the players behind the damp and completely badly packed together squib that this campaign have even the faintest realisation that it's totally shit. You can guarantee that as this was coming ready to go live loads of them were thinking 'This is REALLY great!'<br /><br />They start out on a mission to change the image of beer. They realise there is a problem about the image of beer. They think it is a marketing thing. They are incapable of reflection and understanding that it is the way they do their business from start to finish that is the problem. They make profit so they are right. They think that consumers are as thick as pigshit and if consumers don't 'get it' it's because they have not delivered a c l e a r e n o u g h m e s s a g e to the thick consuming public. <br /><br />They, the 'industry' come up with the proposition to set up an impressive budget that gives huge creative scope to clever marketing professionals they commission to deliver what is needed. They allow access all areas to a bunch of creatives, give them as much information as they could possibly need, at the click of a mouse and the snap of fingers, to do anything they think will drive change in the market and there is a world of multi media magic at their disposal. They then get the first thrust of the campaign totally wrong, offend and totally piss off loads people everywhere; and go quiet for months. Then they put huge energy and earnest work into revising the whole thing - they do research and idea development and seek input from people who really DO get it - like you Matthew - and then employ the completely breathtaking and amazing range of resources at their disposal to develop a new approach, change the name and go to Boards of Directors for approval, feedback and go ahead for further development and completion, burning cash at every leisurely moment along the route.<br /><br />Everyone in the chain thinks what they're doing is right, on the nail, clever, savvy on the nail all the rest of it, and as ever they end up with another dull pile of shite.J Mark Doddshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800542445712331202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-91191033766606224792014-11-03T11:18:11.797+00:002014-11-03T11:18:11.797+00:00Bang on Matthew, excellent article, a great assess...Bang on Matthew, excellent article, a great assessment <br /><br />The beer and pub industry is divided, broken and completely insensitive to and missing the point of where contemporary society needs to be going with beer and the places it's served in. It's all the above corporates wot dun it and the BBPA who shines out at representing their message and perverting the course <br /><br />With ten million quid we could set up a revolutionary, ground breaking radical pub company that would change the face of British pub sector forever. Been working on it for years. @peoplespubptshp www.peoplespubpartnership.org<br /><br />I'm working on raising sponsorship and grants to bring it to market now.J Mark Doddshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800542445712331202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-6455259707885944972014-11-03T11:05:43.577+00:002014-11-03T11:05:43.577+00:00Great article Matthew. You have perfectly skewered...Great article Matthew. You have perfectly skewered this example of corporate smoke and mirrors.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01259454272636567848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-17587618767055344892014-11-03T10:39:37.171+00:002014-11-03T10:39:37.171+00:00'falafel' - why not try with a delicious b...'falafel' - why not try with a delicious bud? <br />'cauliflower soup' - why not try a Coors light? <br />'chocolate cheesecake' - why not try a bud light? <br />'your mum' - why not try a Goose Island ipa? <br /><br />I have looked into the future and this is how the bot conversation will go. Mikehttp://twitter.com/sohoptimisticnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7475885845704210397.post-22673580637278358402014-11-03T09:06:58.571+00:002014-11-03T09:06:58.571+00:00This isn't the angry rant we were promised. I ...This isn't the angry rant we were promised. I want my money back.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.com