From boutique to unique

December 12, 2006

Brewing beer from kits is back in vogue, as consumers search for a more creative experience.

Homebrewing is back. Rather than being just a retro craze, the return of do-it-yourself brewing signals a new enthusiasm for the uniquely personal. It also represents an opportunity for big brands to "collaborate" with consumers. Welcome to creative consumerism, or Brand Me.

Forecaster trendwatching.com describes it as a new form of conspicuous consumption. A DIY culture is seen by some as a backlash to the pervasiveness and dominance of big brands. But this is not an anti-business trend, the American company argues in its September newsletter: it combines consumption with the acquiring of highly valued status skills. "Picking the right bottle [of wine] is one thing, but it is trumped by making and serving one's own."

In Australia, Coopers Brewery has started promoting its homebrew kits on billboards and in print with 1950s-style graphics and slogans that cash in on the DIY craze: "Improve your home - make beer." The South Australian brewer has been making home brewing kits since the 1970s. Coopers marketing manager of brewing products Scott Harris says people have become more concerned with the quality of the beer over the past few years, "so they're more likely to spend a bit more on it, which is what we're seeing through the growth of [our] premium concentrates, like the Pale Ales".

Coopers home brewing kits cost about $10 for a can of concentrate, which makes about 23 litres of beer - the equivalent of two and-a-half cartons.

Traditionally a recessional product, the market has been shrinking since the mid 1990s as the economy has boomed. Harris says that decline has been arrested, however, as a new kind of consumer has started to buy the kits: those who like the creative experience of making their own beer. And Coopers has responded to this growing section of the market by finding new ways to add value.

"We're trying to give people a progression path," Harris says. "What we find first of all is they want to learn simply how to make a good beer. Then after they've done it for a while, they want to experiment a bit - add things like brew enhancers, honey." In keeping with branding the skills acquisition and supplying the kits, Coopers publishes recipes on its website and hosts Coopers Club, a chatroom where home brewers can talk to each other online.

Simon Birmingham, director of stakeholder relations at the Winemakers' Federation of Australia, says some wineries, such as Ainsworth Estate in Victoria and Penfolds in the Barossa Valley, offer a "make your own wine" experience.

"It's something that a group of friends might do," Birmingham says. "From the consumers' point of view, it's a mix of the fun, the experience of doing it, and being able to go back and have a case of something that's exclusively theirs."

While the experience is marketed as wine tourism rather than creative consumerism, the result is the same. "A big part about getting people involved in wineries is that they've got stories to tell when they're drinking the wine," Birmingham says. "They then become advocates for your winery in one form or another."

What is it?

Creative consumerism

What does it do?

Allows individuals to "customise" their consumption, buying new skills along with

a product

Who will use it?

Brewers, winemakers, car and camera manufacturers ... anyone whose products require "skills" to choose and use

Example?

Coopers homebrewing kits for consumers to make pale ale, Mexican cerveza, Canadian blonde and 16 other styles.

Costs from $10 for a 1.7 kilogram can and $5 for brew enhancers

 

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