Magners has made cider socially acceptable again; brands director Stephen Kent explains how his brand reinvigorated a whole category. Suddenly, cider is cool again, and it's not just because it's served over ice. The so-called 'Magners effect' has pulled cider away from the stuff of tramps and teenagers to become a socially-acceptable tipple drunk by the masses.
Magners, the Irish cider brand that is largely attributed to the revitalization of the category was launched into the UK in 2003. Stephen Kent, Magners' brands director points out that his company Bulmers has slogged long and hard in its home market of Ireland to revitalise the brand.
"We didn't come in cold. We had 10 years of history in Ireland and we invested heavily in the brand. We know the product is decent. It wasn't what people expected for a brand of cider and in Ireland Magners is as credible in a golf club as a beer. The advertising caused a reappraisal in the UK."
Magners has grown to become the number one packaged cider brand in Great Britain and is now available in 17 markets. And according to AC Nielsen, cider as a category grew by 15% in the 12 months to October 2006, a growth second only to the juice and smoothies sector. While a number of other premium ciders have launched into the market to take advantage of the 'Magners effect' Kent insists that competition is broader. "It's more than just English cider like Bulmers, (owned by Scottish & Newcastle.) In the UK, I view our biggest competition from beers like Budweiser and Becks."
Before Magners caused waves in the UK market, the image of cider was so poor that Scottish and Newcastle decided to drop the word cider from Strongbow's packaging. But Magners has created a premium market, offering the drink in a glass pint bottle and encouraging consumers to serve it over ice.
Serving Magners over ice may have reinvigorated the brand but does this ritual confine it to a summer drink? Kent says that in Ireland, Magners is drunk as much in December as August. "There are a lot more occasions for the brand and we need to show these to people. I believe we can crack this challenge," he adds.
Kent is insistent that there's more to Magners than its ice proposition. "People have locked into the ice idea but there's a series of communications around nature, land values and the whole brand is rooted in tradition and heritage. This combines to give the brand an unpretentiousness that people like. Magners doesn't promise to be anything more than it is."
Indeed, Kent points out that Magners may have modernised cider, but not at the expense of airbrushing its countryside heritage. "Our values have not been compromised. We might have contemporary advertising but we still communicate the basic land values and show the product. It's simplistic to think that it's just about the advertising. It's about understatement, honest delivery and basic integrity."
He concludes: "It's all about the product. If we didn't have natural character then we wouldn't be a success."
Stephen Kent, marketing director, Magners spoke at a sold-out Marketing Society event in January on successful innovation in a mature market.