Repositioning the proud namesake of the brewing family
The beer market is one of those markets where a stuck-in-the-middle position hardly pays off. In the supermarket channel, crates of beer are pure traffic generators. The major Dutch beer brewers are aware that national beer sales are under pressure and are looking for ways to escape commoditization with new premium products.Since 2007, Bavaria has had its own trump card in-house with which to distinguish itself. Pilsner brand Swinckels’ is the proud bearer of the name of the brewer's family which is currently managed by the seventh generation. Altuïtion was given the honorable task of repositioning the Swinckels' brand now that the Lieshout-based brewery wants to expand its current selective distribution through leading hospitality businesses. With Swinckels’, Bavaria wants to start a completely new journey. On the basis of the customer experience research carried out by Altuïtion according to the ZMET® method and the resulting experience themes, we developed six possible positioning routes. In a session with Bavaria's management and board of directors, we went through and enriched these strategic positioning options and arrived at a preference, which we further detailed in the Brand Bottle brand model that Bavaria uses for this purpose. The repositioning provides a solid foundation for the new course and for the new proposition, marketing, campaigns, and also the packaging that will now be made.
It was an eye-opener for a company that makes many marketing decisions based on instinct to build a brand in such a structured way. According to Swinckels’ brand managers, “it's time to take the next step with the Swinckels’ brand. The first step was to elaborate the positioning based on deep consumer insights. Beer is pure emotion, which is why we felt it was important to fully fathom the emotions and thoughts associated with beer drinking. We wanted to really see things from a consumer perspective and not just rely on our instinct.
The Swinckels' brand already has a short history within the hospitality industry, but we have never actively communicated to consumers before. This made it necessary to deepen the story of Swinckels' and to link it to the profound needs underlying the drinking of beer.
The ZMET® research has given us a clear mind-map of the deeper motivations of why consumers drink beer. This clearly showed us where the space in the market was and how this fits in well with the Swinckels' brand as it already stood. Altuïtion helped us to translate these insights into the organization, to make them concrete, and also acted as a guardian of consumer interests. This enabled us to formulate a well-grounded, complete positioning for the brand, so we can now actively take the next steps in a very challenging market."
