Stubbies out, bottles in, for DB Draught

By Dita De Boni

Hot on the heels of Lion Red's brand repositioning, mainstream rival DB Draught, also suffering from declining sales, is to get a makeover.

Whereas Lion Red abandoned traditional male stereotypes in its remarketing campaign of 1998, DB Draught would launch a new look this Sunday in an attempt to appeal to what it called "real New Zealand blokes" with the catchphrase "hard earned".

As well as repackaging DB's most popular brew, an ad campaign titled "the Patron Saint of Beer Drinkers" will be shown in central New Zealand and the South Island for the first time over the weekend.

Mainstream category manager Peter Hart declined to tell the Business Herald how much the campaign will cost DB, but said it was the biggest investment the company had made in the past few years.

The advertisement, produced by Silverscreen and directed by up-and-coming star director Peter Berger, as well as comphrehensive repackaging of the beer and new logo, would cost DB "about as much as you can imagine", he said.

The signature stubbies which have characterised DB Draught for many years, for example, are to be replaced with long-necked bottles - a look Mr Hart described as "more masculine and contemporary."

He said mainstream brands like Lion and DB have had to reposition themselves to stand out in a market where consumers are increasingly conscious of what they are drinking and like to "display" the brand they prefer, which he said accounted for the rise in DB's premium brands like Monteiths and Heineken.

DB Draught accounts for about 40 per cent of all beer produced by DB Breweries, and is the second largest beer in New Zealand in terms of volume drunk after Lion Red, although both brands have been hit hard by the rise of niche brand beers and changing drinking habits .

"By trying to emphasise what DB Draught has always been about, we are trying to both keep our 'old loyalists', as we call them, and also target younger, newer consumers."

Mr Hart said that as part of the refocus of DB Draught, sponsorship of the Hurricanes and Crusaders in the Super 12 had been stepped up while DB Bitter, which arrived with great fanfare literally on the backs of the Auckland Warriors, had been scaled back to more "realistic" marketing levels.