Are Big Brand Ciders Good for the Category?

Online, May 14, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Walking into any supermarket and you'd be forgiven for thinking that cider is the nation's new favourite beverage. The aisles are packed with apple, pear and other fruit variants. For many drinkers Strongbow, Magners, Thatchers and Bulmers are the main names they'd associate with cider.

It's not just the familiar brand names though. UK brewing's biggest beer brands have entered the market with the launches of:

- Somersby from Carlsberg

- Carling's British Cider

- Stella Artois' Cidre

It's not surprise that the the brand owners Carlsberg, Molson Coors & AB InBev are diving into the cider market. It's in growth and traditional beer sales are in decline. Cider though is on the up:

- Sales are up massively with 60% of consumers now drinking cider, an increase of 47% since 2011 (Marketing Week, 2013)

- Innovation in the category is now appealing to new audiences such as women and 18 - 24s (Mintel, 2013)

- Despite this, almost two-thirds of cider is consumed by the over 35s (Kanter TGI, 2012)

A measure of the importance of the cider category is the level of marketing investment behind these launches. From Sommersby poking fun at Apple to massive outdoor advertising from Carling and Stella's TV campaign for Cider, the big players are spending heavily to grab a large slice of this lucrative market.

What's the impact of this competition going to do for the category? Will big spend launches help maintain the growth in the category? Or will poor products put consumers off? CitySuppers latest post considers some of the risks posed by these developments.