Here at The Value Engineers we’re always on the lookout for fun international events, to help with important ethnographic studies of intriguing customs and traditions. It’s purely for research purposes, you understand…

Here’s a guide to the ins and outs of one of the most famous international festivals of all, Oktoberfest – or Wies’n, as it’s known to the locals. A useful aid to those working on beer brands!

BEER CRIB SHEET

(Ideal for looking intelligent when with your new Bavarian mates)

Each beer can be found in a different tent. Some popular examples include:

• Paulaner Oktoberfestbier (5.8%)  light, popular, tastes of caramel and raisins
• Augustiner Helles (5.2%), a light lager which undergoes a prolonged secondary fermentation phase. Augustiner Weissbier and Edelstoff are the only beers served from traditional wooden barrels.
• Spaten (lit. ‘Spade’) – from the original Munich brewery. Pils is 5.0%, O’festbier is 5.7%
• Löwenbräu’s Wiesenbier (6.1%). Löwenbräu has been serving since 1810.
• Hacker-Pschorr’s Märzen (5.8%) is hoppy and goes perfectly with Bavarian cuisine.
• Hofbräu brewery won a gold medal in last year’s World Beer Championships.

The DOs and DON’Ts of Oktoberfest

1.  DO stand on the benches to sing. DON’T stand on the tables.

2.  DO brush up on your ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Homework: learn the lyrics to
‘Ein Prosit’.

3.  DO keep your eyes open in the Schicht’l Tent for the legendary ‘beheading’ magic trick.

4.  DON’T ignore the beer gardens outside the tents – these are also fun!

5.  DO be yodelled at in Bräurosl tent.

6.  DON’T chug before a  rollercoaster ride, or the terrifying Edmund Heckl’s Shocker.

Enjoy the festivities – and from all of us here at The Value Engineers, Prost!

Amidst all the hype and razzmatazz that characterises the business of marketing, it is easy to forget about the item that sits at the centre of it all – the product.

OK, so products are getter better all the time, even skunky beer is a thing of the past – so it’s easy to see how the product gets taken for granted. But we should never forget that ultimately consumers buy products, not the wrapping – they want products that do the job and do it reliably, over time they expect to see product improvements. In spite of all the progress made in production technology and quality assurance, all products are not equal.

If the evidence in the annual Which? magazine car owner survey is to be believed, I am still much more likely to experience top class vehicle reliability with a Japanese auto than with any European offering (and that includes Germany).

So if product is central to the offer, logically we should be paying more attention to that underrated old war horse of the market research industry – the product test.

Which brings me to my point.

Not all product tests are equal, any more than the products they are assessing. As with products, the finesse and technical robustness of product tests has improved over time. But one element of the process remains curiously vulnerable to human weakness – the selection (& preparation) of the products for testing.

I have spent a substantial amount of my professional life working on beer brands, and as a committed consumer of the product myself I was always fascinated to see the outcome of a product test.

Over time I noticed that in these tests the client product seemed to perform best on a suspiciously large number of occasions. So I asked around and discovered that while competitor product was typically sourced from a wholesaler (and so not especially fresh), the client product was hand picked straight from the brewery by the production people (who obviously wanted to show what they could do). So what we were testing was the sourcing procedure, not the product.

While I cannot be certain I strongly suspect that this error – let us call it ‘selection and presentation bias’ – exists in many tests, that pitch factory sourced client product against distributor sourced competitor product.

In some cases the error can be reinforced at the preparation/ presentation stage – a development chef employed by the company is going to make a better job of cooking/presenting the company product than he is with a competitor product.

So, the moral of the story for all FMCG marketers:

• Never forget the product
• Keep a close eye on the status of your product against its competitors
• Keep a close eye on your product testing procedure – watch out for human-induced error
• Product is (still) king

Starbucks opened a new prototype store this week in its home town of Seattle, in a brave move beyond its heartland of coffee bars. The new concept store will serve regional wine, beer and locally made produce, and has a layout that’s closer to a traditional neighbourhood cafe than Starbucks as we know it. Its low-key decor, dimmed lighting and environmentally responsible design take it a large step away from the classic old-school library feel of its conventional stores.

Its 40th birthday rapidly approaching, Starbucks is keen to find new ways of connecting with its customers – not least because the days when its central proposition of a ‘third space’ between home and office distinguished it from the common mass are long gone. With competitors ranging from Costa Coffee and McDonald’s McCafés to neighbourhood entrepreneurs encroaching on its core offer of comfortable surroundings, consistent products and service wherever the location, and premium coffee, the 16,000-strong chain is clearly seeking a means of re-establishing itself as the home of global barrista culture.

Starbucks hopes that the new concept will bring in valuable evening trade – a welcome development for its shareholders – and encourage customers to see stores as a desirable local fixture rather than a corporate imposition. To my knowledge, it’s the first time that the chain has attempted to cash in on the growing trend of ‘glocalisation’; something that will come as a surprising development to those who’ve been all too happy to dismiss it as the epitome of obnoxious Americanisation.

Global development chief Arthur Rubinfeld hails the new concept as the “natural evolution of the brand”, stemming from learnings the company had obtained from its two ‘living labs’. It will be interesting to see whether critics – and customers – greet it as such. Certainly, some people will find it hard to equate the introduction of alcohol with the organisation’s somewhat ambitious mission “to inspire and nurture the human spirit”.

In a (first) world that’s increasingly pulling away from an internationalised, one-size-fits-all brand experience in favour of a return to more homespun values of empathy, local understanding and heritage, this new Starbucks could prove to be the solution that brings the brand back to its core of human connections.

Either way, as someone who’s never quite understood the fascination of hot beverages, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the UK rollout of the new offering…

Cast your mind back to the idea of an after-work drink in the early 20th century, and the picture that comes to mind is heavily focused around the local pub. Bitter, porter and stout were the drinks of choice, produced by one of hundreds of local breweries.

Fast forward a hundred years and the picture is very different. In those areas where the local boozer still exists, fighting off rising prices and increasing legislation, the taps are more likely to be a series of international lager brands than locally produced bitters.

The reasons for the change are manifold: evolving class boundaries and demographics; tastes moving from bitter to lager; and perhaps most of all, a shift among younger drinks from a pub- to a bar culture. In a world where everyone’s aspirational, young people are looking for opportunities to see and be seen, to show off the evidence of disposable income in their clothing and footwear, choice of drinks and self-branding – desires for which the bar comes into its own. While pubs have traditionally been used for conversation among pairs and groups, lubricated but not wholly driven by alcohol, the new breed of chain bars and pubs revolve around music, dancing and heavy drinking. Behaviour and expectations have shifted, with a concomitant effect on the local pub trade.

The arrival of lager at the forefront of British advertising budgets and trade sales saw it promoted as the drink of aspiration, with associations drawn between individual lager brands and social popularity, increased sex appeal, international culture and wealth. For evidence of this, see the link between lager and football – the sport of the masses meets the (would-be) drink of the masses.

In contrast, real ale became associated with heritage, tradition, nostalgia; its roots in local community – the drink with which generations of working class men ‘celebrated an honest day’s toil’. Such values have been of less interest to today’s young people than the high-income, high-gloss lifestyle promoted by lager brands.

But perhaps the balance is shifting back again. Last week, the publication of the new edition of the Good Beer Guide revealed that the UK now has more than 700 real ale breweries – more than any time since World War II. According to the British Beer and Pub Association, real ale saw its market share rise by 0.3% to 6.1% of the £17bn beer market in 2009. The increase might sound insignificant, but it’s the first of its kind for decades – in a market that’s seen an estimated four pubs close in the UK every day.

More obviously significant is the increase in younger and female drinkers. Research by Camra found that the proportion of women who’ve tried real ale doubled in 2009 from 16% to 32%, while 25-34 year old trialists increased from 38% to 50%.

Managing director of the Purity Brewing Company Paul Halsey attributes this rise to communications, in a recent statement to The Guardian: “The marketing is a lot better now, much cooler and cleaner, so people in their 20s　and 30s have more of an interest in it”.

While we at The Value Engineers would never underestimate the power of marketing, I believe there’s a wider story behind the return of real ales.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a growing group of consumers wanting more sophisticated experiences, tastes and brands. Traditionally the province of the older, high-wealth consumer, this so-called ‘connoisseur culture’ now encompasses younger singles and couples with disposable income and an increasing aversion to mass-market consumption. It’s brought with it an increased interest in authenticity and heritage; a desire to connect with brands that have more to offer than a one-size-fits-all ‘glocational’ positioning.

It’s a desire of which real ale is strongly positioned to take advantage. Small-scale, ‘artisanal’ producers are thriving, aided by their local provenance and the strong narratives or personalities that underpin brewers and brands. From the Hog’s Back Brewery’s bottle conditioned ‘Wobble in a Bottle’ to Brew Dog founders Martin Dickie and James Watt, the UK’s real ale market is capitalising on its assets.

The recession has also had its impact – with something of a positive effect for once. Where lager brands and bars have suffered from consumers shifting their drinking in-home, real ale and craft beers have long been the drink of choice for those seeking quality rather than quantity. The result is that pubs catering to these ‘civilised drinking’ occasions have suffered less than their mass-market counterparts.

However one chooses to attribute the causes, it’s clear is that it’s increasingly the young professionals who are discovering the appeal of bitter, with its ties to place and the image of a gentler, friendlier time. They enjoy the passion and individuality of their local breweries and micro-brewers – and long may these continue. So the next time you’re in a pub stocking real ale, why not raise a glass to the sector that’s refusing to accept its traditional position as the footnote of the UK beer market?

While on a recent break in Majorca, I spent some time wandering the aisles of the supermarkets. It’s a popular pastime for us Engineers, with products coming back to Beaconsfield from all over the world. A handful of products I saw there stood out for their innovation, so here’s a rundown.

First on the table is a premium beer from Spanish brewery S.A. Damm. Estrella Damm Inedit is a unique blend specifically created to complement ‘the most exquisite and challenging foods’. Positioned under the Estrella Damm pilsener brand, the beer was developed by the brewery in conjunction with chefs Ferran Adrià and Juli Soler, and sommeliers Ferran Centelles and David Seijas.

Estrella Damm Inedit: designed to accompany fine food

Blending lager and wheat beer styles, the brew retails in 750ml bottles and is intended to be served with food containing citrus, oils, bitter notes or oily textures – so think salads, asparagus, fish and cheese.

The makers recommend serving in white wine glasses, while the bottle should be kept in a wine cooler during the meal.

Each of the distinctive dark, low-key bottles is presented with a removable neck tag of background information, including serving suggestions and history.

While Estrella Damm Inedit isn’t the first beer to adopt a premium positioning to compete with dinner wines, it’s a lovely example of a local brand supported by a clear, simple proposition, product and marketing.

Next up is DIY salad dressing, courtesy of specialist Spanish vinegar producer J.R. Sabater under its Merry brand. Sabater products are normally sold in half-litre bottles or larger, making them less than convenient for desk lunches, picnics and less formal meal occasions. Merry’s answer is a handy pack of extra-virgin olive oil, gourmet wine vinegar and salt.

Merry's DIY salad dressings to go

The pack contains five individual sachets of each ingredient, neatly sealed for convenience. Simple instructions suggest sprinkling the salt over the salad, followed by the vinegar and olive oil. Thus seasoned to taste, the result is a no-mess, no-fuss dressing. For those who prefer their dressings more complex, of course, there’s always the option to keep the ingredients separate – hardboiled egg dipped in salt, anyone?

 Merry’s new pack is another illustration of the way in which food producers are tapping into people’s well documented desire to add an element of customisation to their consumption. By providing high-quality products in a DIY format, Merry offers a tailormade experience to suit the tastes of its audiences.

The final example is somewhat more prosaic – a new variant in the successful Président dairy brand. Président Snacking is the latest pack introduction from the brand best known in the UK for its wheels of brie and camembert. Introduced in Spain and the US, the new pack contains 180g. of brie in the form of a tube or ‘log’, specifically designed for easy serving in roundels.

President Snacking uses format and pack design to establish clear usage occasions

The thing that caught my eye wasn’t so much the format as the positioning. The US and Spanish packs are designed to tap into the different habits of consumers in those countries – so that the Spanish pack positions the product as perfectly designed for serving as hot and cold tapas. In contrast, the US design focuses on dinner party-style cheese and crackers.

It’s a neat example of an established product proposition tailored to suit varying audiences with the help of packaging and marketing, and goes to prove once again that innovation needn’t be restricted to high-investment, long-term projects.

So there we are: three more additions to The Value Engineers kitchen. We’ll keep you posted on the success of a forthcoming brie-beer-and-salad tasting session…