Learned On...

Is Beer Still Beer If It Is “Girl-ified?”

I’m one of those not-very-rare creatures: a woman who likes beer.   I don’t need any stereotypically feminine bottle or tap to drink it, and neither do any of my female friends.  Plus, we tend to drink beer in mixed company -so, the latest attempt by Heineken to reach the women’s market just gives me pain.  I’d be embarrassed to ask for it.

But, that’s just me and maybe women are different in the Netherlands…

According to the  Springwise post on this news,  "Charli" is a sparkling cider brewed by Heineken that has recently launched in that country.  It is being marketed to the 63% of women (according to Heineken research) that didn’t like its original beer. 

Did those women not like the taste of beer, in general?  Why even go after that market?  Leave them be.  How about figuring out how to reach all the many women who DO like beer, but for whatever reason are not yet buying Heineken?

Here’s what I’d do for a specific women-focused effort:

1) Form an advisory board of women who drink beer and some of whom are fans of the Heineken brand already. 

2) Get their take on how Heineken might reach more beer drinking women (and perhaps realize that it wouldn’t have a lot to do with a girly bottle or cheese-y name, thank you very much).

3) Get their help spreading the word about Heineken (including how cool it is that a beer brand would be asking women for help) so they can make (real) beer that is more appealing - or maybe just change the way they market their original beer. 

4) Do not call any new product "light" or make it seem softer/girlier than the original beer, just call it something different (bonus of this approach: a few men along the way might also discover they like it too).

5) Leave the cider to someone else, and continue to be in touch with your customer advisory board (feel free to invite men in along the way too).

6) Let the existing fans help identify and make new Heineken fans (…and they’ll tell two friends, and so on.)

Now, Charli may do just fine in the Netherlands (the women pictured on the web site do look happy), but Heineken beware: American women may be more likely to see a pink-thinking ploy and say "bye-bye, Charli."

Friday, August 31st, 2007 in Men in Marketing to Women, PINK Thinking

5 Responses to “Is Beer Still Beer If It Is “Girl-ified?””

  1. John W. McKenna Says:
    September 4th, 2007 at 3:45 am

    Andrea

    You’ve been tagged for the “Does Most Leadership Suck Challenge”. Check the link for details.

    Take care…

    JMW

  2. Erin Says:
    September 5th, 2007 at 7:44 pm

    Hi Andrea,
    As I take a nice long sip of beer let me to join my friend Jenny and my contest at http://jenny-and-erin.com/2007/09/win-a-25-gift-certificate/. Hopefully we can keep the blog community growing!

    P.S. Excellent site - officially a new RSS subscriber!

  3. Katie Konrath Says:
    September 11th, 2007 at 10:18 am

    In fact, Becks beer (Bremen, Germany) has several flavors that are designed to appeal to women: Becks Gold, Green Lemon, and Chilled Orange. They also have a couple other different flavors of beer.

    They’re all pretty successful (Chilled Orange is new), especially because they don’t specifically say “This is a beer for women.”

    I think the different flavors of beer can work, but I agree with you that it’s a little silly to market a beer as a “womens beer”. Especially since there are already tons of fantastic ciders on the market that don’t have a women-only slant.

  4. Andrea Learned Says:
    September 11th, 2007 at 10:42 am

    Thanks for the heads-up, Katie. The more fruit-flavored beers have been around for many a brand for a while now, and I think you are right. They may have been initially inspired by women (only the beer brands know for sure), but plenty of guys were probably very happy to see them on the market. And, those guys weren’t horrified to be seen buying them. That’s the big plus.

  5. Katie Konrath Says:
    September 12th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    But, one thing to remember, those beers were not marketed as a “beer for women”. No guy, especially a proper German, would be caught dead drinking a girl’s beer!

    Besides, it’s bad marketing. Why alienate guys as potential customers?

    One thing I learned when I was living in Malta and London–guys love cider. In fact, it’s one of those few drinks a girl can buy when she doesn’t like the taste of beer–that will still get a “great choice!” head nod from the guys in the group.