SAB to build on House of Hansa success

Communications manager Janine van Stolk said last week the brewer was keeping an eye open for possible line extensions to Hansa Pilsner and Hansa Marzen Gold.

Marzen Gold, which launched almost a year ago after South African Breweries, the South African unit of global giant SABMiller (SAB), lost the licence to brew Amstel, has been one of the company's most successful launches.

Van Stolk said the beer's success did not “happen by mistake”, but was the result of careful planning, and benefited from being launched just after SA ran out of Amstel.

She said the brewer had been working on repositioning its brands and the new House of Hansa marketing strategy was a departure for the group, which had not marketed Castle and its variants along similar lines.

Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Asset Management Private Clients, said Hansa Marzen Gold — referred to in taverns as Amazing Gold — was the brewer's most successful local launch, and came close to its parent company's US launch last year of Miller Chill.

He said the brew, which had sold 400,000 hectolitres, was expected to have sold close to 700,000 hectolitres by year-end.

Hansa Marzen Gold was the “first locally developed but internationally based beer to be introduced to SA in many years”, said the brewer.

The beer, available in a 750ml (quart) returnable bottle, a 340ml non-returnable bottle and a 340ml can, endured consumer research during 2006 before the launch.

Gilmour said while the beer had done better than initially expected and had aided in trimming volume losses after Amstel left the stable, the beer should have shown better sales in the second half. The second half included holidays such as Christmas, New Year and Easter, all of which were traditionally good for beer sales.

Amstel's return in bottles in November “must have dented growth,” Gilmour said. Sales in the year ahead, when the beer did not have a vacuum to fill, would be a better indicator of its potential.

Source: Business Day

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