The move marks MBI's transition from a brewery to a beverage corporation with Bintang Zero being its first non-alcoholic beverage. The company's aim is to successfully segment the world's largest Muslim market by launching a new category for non-alcohol drinkers.
"Multibintang's aim in Indonesia ... is to segmentise the market and create a new category which taps into those consumers who due to religious restrictions cannot consume alcohol freely," said Daniel Rembeth, client services director and managing partner of TBWA, which handled the launch campaign.
The Bintang Zero launch is supported by an educational campaign developed by TBWA, entitled '100 % Bintang 0% Alcohol'. The campaign targets the 20 to 30 year old demographic, which currently prefers soft drinks but are expected to try Bintang Zero. It is currently being positioned in the market as an 'alternative to beer'.
Bintang Zero is available in 330ml cans and bottles and the packaging looks very similar to the Bintang Beer packaging. It has added sugar and tastes sweet as the processing is stopped before fermentation. "The first phase of the campaign is educational but the next phase of the campaign will have more of an emotional focus," said Rembeth. TBWA handled Beer Bintang until 2001, before winning back the account earlier this year from Ogilvy & Mather.