Luring the ladies

Molson Coors hints at NPD

In Britain beer belongs to blokes. Here, just 13% of beer is consumed by women, compared to 25% in the US and 36% in Ireland. If brewers are to drive growth in a flattened market, it would seem beer – so often equal to football, beards, bellies and belching in the female psyche – needs a makeover.

Enter the BitterSweet Partnership, the unit Molson Coors UK set up last year with a cash injection of more than £1 million to give beer a helping hand with the ladies. And it’s quite a market that beer is missing out on; BitterSweet puts its value at £87 million.

“This untapped market represents a huge opportunity for us to make a real impact in the beer industry,” said BitterSweet MD Kirsty Derry at the unit’s first birthday bash in London yesterday. “Last year we invested huge resource to map out the market, gathering insights from thousands of British women.”

The results of the investigations make sobering reading: 79% of women say they seldom or never drink beer; 35% think beer will make them bloated; 34% don’t think beer is a good match with food; 15% believe beer is more fattening than other drinks; 8% don’t like how it’s served. In short, beer is for blokes.

“Women don’t want to be patronised, they want to be treated on a par with other consumers," said Derry. “A pint isn’t a great accessory for all women. I care about how I look and feel. Do I feel great when I’m handed a pint? No, I don’t, and I feel patronised when I’m given a half.” 

There was nothing blokeish about Thursday’s soirée. Chilled champagne flutes of Kasteel Cru and goblets of Blue Moon were chinked as the guests nibbled cup cakes and white chocolate-dipped strawberries. This was beer minus the testosterone, and - don’t tell anyone - it tasted pretty damn good.

“We now have a much deeper understanding of women’s relationship with beer and aim to grow the female category in 2010,” added Derry. “Our target is to increase the percentage of beer sales attributed to women to 14% by 2012.”

BitterSweet has got some hard work ahead if it is to achieve this goal. Issues surrounding how, where, when and in what beer is served need to be addressed if more women are to be swayed. And there’s stiff competition for the female throat out there; wine and spirits are not going to roll over easily.

To help Molson Coors win over the ladies, a new product will be launched in the next few months. But that’s all the ladies at BitterSweet would confirm yesterday; they were keeping schtum on the exact details. One thing’s for sure though; it’s not going to come in pints.