As the largest brewer of premium cask, keg and bottled ales, Marston’s are ideally placed to take the role of thought leader in the UK ale category. They are responsible for some of the country’s best loved beer brands including Pedigree, Hobgoblin, Wainwright and Banks’s Bitter.
Earlier this year, we worked closely with the consumer marketing team at Marston’s to deliver a large-scale survey investigating consumer perceptions and behaviour in the UK ale market. This data forms an integral part of two annual market reports released to industry stakeholders, providing a key evidence base for licensees, operators, and brewers across both the On Trade and Off Trade categories.
The 2017 report for the Off Trade category can now be viewed here and the inaugural On Trade report is also viewable here. The data collected by Eureka! shines invaluable light on some of the key trends in these markets, including:
- Where and why do ale drinkers choose to drink?
- Information that helps beer shoppers decide on purchase
- Pack formats for different shopper missions / drinking occasions
- Drink experimentation
- The evolution of the craft beer market
- Understanding the switch from on trade to off trade
Tom Lenihan, Head of Consumer Marketing, said “The work provided by Eureka! has been instrumental in furthering the understanding of our consumer. It laid the foundations for our annual category reports and has given us the insight to support several of our decisions during 2017. The results and strong methodology underpinning them have been extremely well received by customers in all channels. Rich and Dave were a pleasure to work with and managed the project effectively for us throughout. We will definitely continue to work with Eureka!”
It’s been an incredibly busy year for our colleagues at Marston’s with the acquisition of the Charles Wells brewery and brands (including lager brands such as Estrella Damm). We are now in the early planning stages for the next consumer surveys, which will be extended to cover the growing premium draft lager and world lager categories. This will subsequently provide Marston’s, for the first time, a total view of consumer trends and attitudes across the whole ‘beer’ market.
