Return to TV
According to the analytical center tsifrra, in the first three months of 2016, Russia had issued 13.3 million liters of non-alcoholic beer, which is 34,5% more than in the same period of 2015. The growth of beer production in General was 6.4%, to 1.56 billion liters (that is, alcohol had less than 1% of the issue).
Three years ago the “zero” beer has not caused much interest among the Russian consumers, but the situation is changing, said the Director tsifrra Vadim Drobiz: from 2013 to 2015 the production of non-alcoholic beer increased by 9.4%, while total production decreased over the same period by 19%. Only in 2015-m soft segment increased by 1.1% to 72 million years, manufacturing as a whole declined 5.7%, to 7.3 billion L. According to the research company Nielsen, the share of non-alcoholic beer now accounts for 1.08% of the total sales of beer in Russia. In 2013 its share was less than 0.73 per cent.
“The growth of production of non-alcoholic beer and increase the range of products in this category are associated mainly with the specifics of the advertising legislation in Russia, — says Drobiz. — Alcohol beer may be advertised only in the broadcast of sports programs, moreover in such advertising is prohibited to use images of people and animals. For non-alcoholic beer these limits do not apply, so the manufacturers often promote it as the umbrella brand. That is, they aim to advertise a whole range of Beers under a common brand, but is switched on and the direct effect of such advertising — the consumer knows about the existence of the non-alcoholic varieties and buy them more often”.
According to Drobiz, until the beginning of 2016 advertising non-alcoholic beer on the Central TV channels appeared only sporadically, and now is present in ad units on a continuous basis.
“Advertising of non-alcoholic beer on TV — a great opportunity for a manufacturer of beer products to advertise your brand, agree with the expert Director to work with global clients, “Nielsen Russia” Marina Lapenkova. For the manufacturer the production of non-alcoholic beer — mostly it is an opportunity to stimulate interest in the brand as a whole.”
According to the data company TNS Global (monitors more than 550 TV channels in 29 cities of Russia, including Moscow), the brewing company in 2016 is really back in the number of advertisers on TV. In the first quarter of the ads, the beer were shown the TV channels 766 times, their total duration was just over 217 minutes. For comparison: in the first quarter of 2012, when the ban on advertising alcoholic beer has not yet acted (was introduced from 1 July 2012, and before that commercials could appear on the air after 22 hours), TNS recorded 6077 impressions total duration of 2014 minutes.
Representatives of brewing companies agree that until the beginning of 2016 wary of commercials. “The ability of advertising of non-alcoholic beer was the industry always. The only thing that stopped us from being able to begin to use this right in full, — the lack of an effective tool for marking this type of product so to avoid any mixing of alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands”, — says Director of legal Affairs and corporate relations “sun InBev” (Russian “daughter” of the AB InBev) oraz Durdyev.
In the end, the market leaders agreed to use special icons that emphasize the soft nature of the product and received a guarantee from the Federal monopoly service, supervising the observance of the law “On advertising” that claims to such rollers will not occur, says Durdyev. In the summer of 2014 “sun InBev” has released a promo video of beer “Siberian crown soft” with the participation of Hollywood star David Duchovny, in 2016 — video in support of the non-alcoholic Hoegaarden with the participation of Chuck Norris.
Bet on “nulevku”
According to tsifrra, the leader of the soft segment with a share of 58.8 per cent is Baltika, owned by Danish Carlsberg), is promoting the brand “Baltika 0”. In 2013, the company’s share was more — 79,9%. Director of development national and regional brands Baltika Paul, Zyankevich called “Baltika 0” is “one of the focus brands company”; the development of non-alcoholic portfolio, he said, is one of Carlsberg’s strategic goals in the global market.
In a press-service of the Moscow brewing company (IPC) said that also rely on the non-alcoholic varieties. “If non-alcoholic “Trekhgornij” we were brought back for sales at the stadiums during football matches, because the brand is a sponsor of “Spartak”, soft “Zhiguli barnoye” has ambitions for leadership position in the segment. We do see the trend in the growth of this market”, — said the employee of the IPC.
The representative of Efes Rus Pavel Filippov said that the company “believes in the potential of segment”: Efes and before that was quite a wide assortment of non-alcoholic beer in the portfolio, and in 2016, it has launched three new alcoholic varieties, including under mark Miller.
The representative of Heineken (in the portfolio has a non-alcoholic version of Amstel and Zlatý Bažant) Cyril Bolmatov told that the growth in the category has been ongoing for two years. “I wouldn’t have linked the growth in demand solely with the emergence of a large number of commercials on TV, he said. — After all the rollers appeared relatively recently, but the increase began earlier. We believe that this is a worldwide trend that is associated with the popularity of healthy lifestyle”.
According to Euromonitor International, in 2013 the global market of non-alcoholic beer was $5 billion, by 2018 will rise to $6.5 billion According to senior market analyst Euromonitor alcoholic drinks Spyros of Malandrakis, the main driver of growth is the active work of Breweries in Muslim countries, where alcohol consumption is prohibited or not welcome for religious reasons. “For example, in Iran the increase in the consumption of non-alcoholic beer now as if tomorrow will be the end of the world”, — quotes Malandrakis Huffington Post. Among other reasons experts call the companies to improve the taste of non-alcoholic beer — “in the 1990s, it even does not taste resembled beer.”
Just two years ago the representatives of retail chains was recognized that the demand for non-alcoholic beer is very low. “Take a couple of items from large suppliers, but rather for the range,” said a Manager of a large trading network. — Sales are extremely low, is on the shelf the stake.” Now the situation has changed. “At the end of the first quarter of 2016 in comparison with the same period in 2015, an increase was recorded LFL sales [in the same] in pieces on 9%, — said the representative of X5 Retail Group Oleg Poletaev. — At the end of 2015 the trading network “Crossroads” brought a further two positions of non-alcoholic beer — their number has reached 13″. In his opinion, the demand has spurred the increase in advertising communication on TV.
An even greater increase in the demand for non-alcoholic beer was observed in a network “Diksi”: according to company representative Catherine Comninou, in 2015 and early 2016, the range of the network is in the category of non-alcoholic beer has grown from six to nine items, the turnover on them increased by 20%. The representative of the network Metro Cash & Carry Oksana Tokarev has noted that the dynamics of the sales of non-alcoholic beer in the stores of the retailer is slightly better than the beer with the alcohol content. Its share in beer sales increased to 2%, and the range is up to 13 positions.
