Carlsberg Launches Style Conscious, Androgynous Beer
According to Portfolio.com, females make up a surprising 25% of the global beer market. They’re also the reason cans are sold in 6 packs rather than 8s and are largely credited for the success of light beers. Despite this information, the vast majority of beer brands tend to market their products to men. Whilst there has been some attempt to launch feminine variants, they’ve tended to lean into the pink and flowery, patronising trap.
As one might expect coming from one of the world’s most gender-equal, Carlsberg have taken an alternative route with their first ever global variant launch, Copenhagen. The light, 4.5% lager is, instead, presented in beautifully minimal, androgynous packaging, designed by the team over at e-types. The simple, typographic route was a aimed towards creating gender-free product targeted towards the design aware, style conscious market.
Jeanette Elgaard Carlsson, the International Innovation Director at Carlsberg, commented that the company sees that ”there are a number of consumers, especially women, who are very aware of design when they choose beverage products. There may be situations where they are standing in a bar and want their drinks to match their style. In this case, they may well reject a beer if the design does not appeal to them,” Furthermore “The consumer surveys that we have conducted in Denmark show that 98% of the target group finds Copenhagen exciting.”
Despite some blogs questioning whether those that enjoy beer will fall for the marketing schtick that surrounds Copenhagen, the launch marks an interesting development in the marketing of beer. The inclusion of women into a brand’s target market automatically expands their potential audience to 125%.
Update: For the interest of the type geeks out there the label is largely set in Playtype’s ‘The Wave’ typeface.
