This story appears in the May 2015 issue of strategy.

Bronze: Changing Behaviour

Alexander Keith’s is a quintessential East Coast Canadian beer. But like many beer brands, it was experiencing a downward spiral as the category began to lose relevance with millennials.

With slumping beer sales and new competitors in wine and spirits, it was time for the brand to engage beer drinkers with a new way to enjoy its beer.

Flavoured beers are surging in popularity and have become the fastest growing segment, as beer drinkers seek unique alternatives. Thinking “outside the bottle,” its agency Hunter Straker helped the brand get ahead of the trend with a made-in-Canada, never-been-done-before idea.

“Bring Flavour to Life” launched with an in-case beer flavour infuser, which allowed drinkers to infuse their beer at home with some of their favourite ingredients.

To promote the program, the brand and agency placed innovative displays in store, using simple communication and a compelling visual identity to drive sales and reverse the brand’s decline.

The infuser program was one of the strongest Keith’s retail programs. For the first time in 12 consecutive periods, the brand saw share lifts across all regions. The program drove a national share lift of 8%, Ontario saw a 13% lift, Western Canada tracked a 15% lift, while the eastern part of the country saw a 6% lift.

Credits:

Advertiser: Labatt Breweries of Canada
Sr. national brand activation manager: Ashik Bhat
National brand activation manager: Darryl Minor
Assistant national brand activation manager: Andrea Boyle
Agency: Hunter Straker Canada
Sr. CD: Milan Sukunda
AD: Boban Stojanovski
Sr. account director: Bogart Edwards
Account supervisor: Robyn George
Account co-ordinator: Brian Winter
Project manager: Michelle Choo-Wing
Display production: Mi5, Marins
Packaging: Backwell