Tiger leads new TAPB assault on beer wars

Tiger is targeted at the standard to premium category, which accounts for 20 per cent of the overall beer market. TAPB, which also manufactures and distributes Heineken in the country, accounting for almost 80 per cent market share of the 80.5 billion baht (US$1.9 billion) premium segment, is also looking at a launch in the fast-growing economy segment. "With the new product line-up, we expect to capture at least 20 per cent of Thailand's beer market over the next five years," TAPB's general manager Panya Pongtanya said. "Tiger Beer itself is expected to achieve sales of between 20 and 25 million litres in the next two years." "Tiger Beer is being positioned between the premium and standard beer segment, which accounts for 20 per cent of the total beer market," said Panya. Marketing Tiger will be far from straightforward because of new curbs on alcohol advertising in the country. "It is getting increasingly hard for beer brands to establish 'attitude' and 'uniqueness', particularly the new (labels)," explained Phil McDonald, deputy managing director, Leo Burnett Thailand, which handles the account. Playing within the rules of the new restrictions, Tiger will be launched under the campaign theme of 'It's what's inside'. "Establishing Tiger as a brand which advocates that it's what is inside a person or a brand that really matters, is very fresh territory for beer brands in Thailand," said McDonald. "The idea we developed focuses more on the beer itself and the quality of it, rather than any exterior, image-based communication." The first stage of the campaign has been designed to establish the credentials of the beer in Thailand. "We developed a sort of 'anti-credential' campaign to launch the beer in print and on-premise. The headlines on the first couple of ads are; 'Who cares if Tiger is brewed in more Asian countries than any other beer (the important thing is we are now brewed in Thailand)' or 'We thought about using green bottles too (but our brown ones are better at protecting our beer from harmful UV rays)'," said McDonald. More on-premise activity, PR, events and TV, are expected to follow the print campaign. The Thai market is dominated by four major brands -- Chang by Beer Thai, Leo and Singha by Boon Rawd Brewery and TAPB's Heineken. Singha dominates the standard segment, which until Tiger's arrival lacked a competing brand. Tiger is available in more than 60 countries across the world. Asia-Pacific Breweries Singapore group marketing director Chris Kidd said: "It is also possible for us to export Tiger Beer from Thailand, but we will focus on building the brand in the Thai market at the moment." See p15