Pravha

Born out of the Staropramen Brewery in Prague, Pravha was launched in the UK as a brand-new product targeted at the 4% lager market and combining the great flavour of a premium larger with the light and refreshing taste of a standard lager.

Launch

Key to our strategy was the launch night, without a large-scale media campaign we knew we had to work hard on the ground to secure buy in from bar owners and managers. We invited them to a night at the Perch and allowed them to taste the beer, drink it for the evening and experience for themselves what their customers would be enjoying if they installed a tap at their bar.

The night was balanced perfectly allowing the liquid to speak for itself and the Molson staff to enjoy the company of their clients without having to deliver a hard sale, served with perfect food pairings to feed our clients and educate them at the same time on how Pravha is perfect for food outlets.

The launch night helped to secure new listings with over 50 taps installed in the first year. We followed up with sampling events inviting consumers to taste the beer and incentivizing paid for trial with competitions to win free pints, branded merchandise and trips to Prague linking back to the origin of the beer and the hero association with Staropramen and Czech beers. We managed all activity, building a brand ambassador team to carry out the sampling and providing the training to ensure that all staff were well informed and comfortable talking about the beer.

We complimented above the Line media campaigns with full taxi wraps and branded Molson vehicles to provide year-round branding with the taxi wraps highly visible during peak periods in the busy Belfast social scene. These were so successful that the idea was picked up and replicated in London.

Sampling activity has continued throughout the period showing confidence in the product and knowing that once trialed, the consumer will enjoy the experience and make repeat purchases. The branding has evolved, and we have produced semi-permanent in bar installations to create the feeling of bar owner advocacy. We have created apps in-house to enhance the engagement between promotional staff and consumers making each interaction quicker, which means that we can speak to more people in each outlet and make the experience more professional, informative and enjoyable for the consumer.

Our latest round of sampling activity coincided with the launch of our latest promotional tool – a fully branded Piaggio vehicle complete with pouring ability to facilitate the free pints for happy consumers. An eye-catching piece of branding which allows us to engage with consumers before they have made their first and all-important buying decision of the evening.

We have followed sampling teams to create video content for use not only on the Pravha social channels, but also for use by the Molson Coors sales team as they seek to secure new listings and agree to additional sampling activity.

Results

We have exceeded sales targets for the first two years with Molson with regards to the number of taps installed, volume of liquid sold, and profit margin returned. Not only has some of the activity been lifted and rolled out in Scotland and England, but the strategy has been replicated for the launch of the brand in the Republic of Ireland market via an Island of Ireland strategy. The brand has now been launched on the off trade with positive early results, and Molson Coors have revealed ambitious new 3-year targets for the brand based on the achievements to date.

Pravha continues to be a success story on every level, for Molson, their customers (bar owners and off trade), the consumer and for us as an agency... now I can drink to that!

To find out how we can help you deliver an effective marketing strategy, contact our General Account Management team on enquiries@walkercommunications.co.uk