Swedish brewery Kopparberg is hoping to capitalise on a recent American craze by launching its own range of “Hard Seltzer”, an alcoholic carbonated drink. Known for being low in calories whilst still alcoholic, hard seltzers took the US by storm last year - leading to shortages in stores and even a festival launched bearing their name.
Predominately marketed towards younger, health-conscious drinkers looking for a lower alcohol alternative to beer, Kopparberg’s Hard Seltzers are 5% alcohol, gluten-free, carb-free, vegan and contain a relatively slim 93 calories per can.
New YouGov data shows that those who look for healthier alternatives when purchasing alcohol tend to buy ‘free-from’ products as a lifestyle choice (33%) and look for ‘low sugar’ or ‘no added sugar’ labels (74%). Additionally, more than two fifths of this group say that they have cut down their alcohol consumption in the past year (43%). This group mainly consists of Brits aged between 25 and 34 (25%) and they are usually female (54%).
But since the release of Kopparberg Hard Seltzer advertising material at the start of the month, Ad Awareness scores (whether someone has seen or heard an advert by the company in the past two weeks) have remained fairly level among Brits suggesting that impact has been fairly limited. This is to be expected during the coronavirus crisis, where traditional and offline ad spend has been cut as consumers stay at home.
However, Ad Awareness scores among 18 to 34 year olds have seen an increase over the past couple of weeks, suggesting Kopparberg’s social media posts and #summerdelivered campaign has been successful with the target audience for Hard Seltzers.
While Kopparberg’s marketing may have been targeted towards a younger audience, the launch of the Seltzer products have had a noticeable impact on the brand’s Index score (a score of a brand’s overall brand health). Since the May 11th the brand’s Index score increased from +15.3 to +21.1 showing that the new product launch helped to improve Kopparberg’s overall brand health.
Although Hard Seltzers are fairly new to the UK alcoholic beverage market, Kopparberg isn’t the first brand to launch a product; leading American Hard Seltzers brand White Claw and Scottish brewer BrewDog both launched product offerings this summer. Continuing to market Hard Seltzers to those who enjoy alcoholic drinks but prefer to indulge with healthier alternatives as part of a healthier lifestyle will help Kopparberg’s latest products to be successful as lockdown begins to ease and Brits are able to see friends again.
Image: Kopparberg
