Marketing Communications

282 CHAPTER 8 MEDIA PLANNING

Fig u r e 8 .12 Market share of lager brands in Belgium in the off-trade channel

have a severe negative impact on Maes’s market share:

from 9.7% in 2005 to 7.8% in 2008. Competition in the

beer market is strong and has substantially changed over

the last 20 years. In 1985 Maes had a volume market

share of 17.8%, Jupiler (the market leader) 39.8% and the

private labels 12.2%. In 2008, there was one undisput-

able market leader that kept growing every year ( Jupiler),

and the private labels had a market share of about 33%

(Figure 8.12). Maes is stuck in the middle and experiences

pressure from both sides. The reason for the success of

Jupiler is manifold. With its central brand promise ‘Men

know why’, Jupiler has succeeded in appealing to a broad

male audience. Its communications are consistent and

synergetic and for many years the brand maintained a high

share of voice in Belgian beer advertising (50% in 2008

as opposed to 21% for Maes). Moreover, for many years

Jupiler has sponsored the major football league in Belgium,

therefore called the ‘Jupiler League’.

Ambitious objectives for a facelifted

Maes

In April 2009 MaesPils was relaunched with the ambition

to position Maes again as a strong brand. The product and

packaging went through a thorough facelift and a new and

modern house style was developed. The product now

contains more malt and has a fuller, more bitter taste. The

price was increased by 8%. The case describes the relaunch

of Maes in two campaign waves: May–June and October–

November 2009.

The commercial objective of the campaign was to half

the 25-year continuous decline in off-trade market share

within the campaign period. At the end of 2008, the

projected market share for 2009 without any campaign

was 7.2%. During the first few months of 2009, the

situation got worse. Without any additional efforts, in March

the projected market share was 6.3%. The aim was to reach

a market share of 7.8% (the same as in 2008) in 2009.

Therefore, during the last eight months of 2008, substantial

growth had to be realised to attain this objective.

The year-long decline of Maes resulted in a loss of social

consensus around the brand. Consumers doubted Maes’s

taste and even Maes drinkers no longer wanted to admit

their preference in public. Maes had become a loser brand,

and consumers chose the leader. The communications

strategy of the new campaign therefore aimed at restoring

the social consensus. Beer drinkers should again trust

and love Maes. The communications strategy was built on

three pillars:

1. Brand credentials. Restore trust in the beer and the
   brand. The product is at the focus of the campaign. Maes
   has changed and we are confident that it tastes better.


2. Trial. As many Belgians as possible should try the
   new Maes. Tasting is believing. Prejudices can best be
   countered by experience. Massive sampling is key. The
   objective is to break old habits and bring Maes back into
   the consideration set.


3. Brand attitude. Install a unique and recognisable
   behaviour of the brand as a real challenger. Just a good
   product is not sufficient. People should love the brand.
   Next to the strong Jupiler brand, it was necessary to
   build a strong and differentiated identity and attitude: no
   bullshit, straightforward, with guts and self-confidence,
   but with enough self-relativisation, a brand that does
   real things and not just communicates.

Firstly, brand credentials were restored, then a trial was

generated. Throughout the whole campaign, attitudes were

built up. The communications objectives were as follows:

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