A glass of pear cider under the effects of a flash

Pear cider "au naturel"

Sweden, a pear cider powerhouse

When I am at a London pub I always look for the “exotic” drinks, and I am usually not disappointed. This time the “discovery” was Briska, a brand of premium pear cider from Sweden.

I had already tasted Swedish pear cider (it seems to be a real speciality of the Scandinavian country!), but this one was kind of different, a bit more…fresh? maybe it’s just that it looked lighter or that I was more thirsty…but I really liked the bubbly, pale, transparent look…you can judge from the images!

(In any case, it looks like cider is in fashion, at least in London!)

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It does not matter where you live, you can order your favourite foods...

One of the questions we are often asked is whether people order foods from countries other than the one they live in. The answer is yes, despite the fact that cross-border logistics for bulky items remain an obstacle, the GourmetOrigins.com marketplace provides a way for foodies all over Europe to get foods that are unique and very closely linked to specific locations…what caught me by surprise is that there is a demand also for ordinary mass-produced foods, the sort you can find in a normal supermarket!

It seems that the British expats (and particularly British people living in France!) are really keen in getting Sainsbury’s foods even when they live somewhere in the middle in France…

I first came across the British Corner Shop, but apparently is not the only one! here is an article in the Guardian that explains this phenomenon…

Belgian cider culture, part 2

Although there is a risk of becoming a bit repetitive after my previous post about Stella Artois’ cider marketing campaign in the UK, I thought it interesting to share the second part of the advertising campaign…also putting the accent on the cider’s continental origins and the air of sophistication that French language can convey in some settings.

Direct from Russia

Russian salmon caviar and blinis (pancakes)…what else can I ask for?

Stella Artois, not only beer

I must confess this latest Stella Artois ad had me thinking for a few seconds, looking for the hidden meaning…but it looks like the Belgian beer maker is again playing with its continental origins to market one of its products…this time it is less about Belgium but about “continentalness”, with a touch of French language (although Stella Artois is actually based on the Flemish part of Belgium).

From the point of view of marketing it is interesting that Stella Artois has opted to highlight its foreign character at a time when “Buy British” is in fashion, and there is no shortage of good English ciders, but once more, differentiation is key.

Want to know more about Jersey Royal New Potatoes?

Jersey Royal New Potatoes PDO have already appeared in this blog, where I noted their display advertising in the London underground. This time is also about displays, but at the supermarket…at M&S I came across these screens you can see below (sorry, the picture’s quality is not the best!). Instead of having the simple shelf label with the name and the price, M&S customers can find image-rich information about Jersey Royal New Potatoes PDO on the screen.

This might be showing the way towards a more information-rich product display, however I am not sure this is the best format….with the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, I think that, rather than invest in hardware in-store, it would might be more efficient to facilitate the use of mobile technologies that are still in their infancy, such as augmented reality, that organize information layers that already exist in the web (such as, for example, the GourmetOrigins.com food certification pages!) and link it to products in the physical World.

Country essence

Many brands try hard to communicate the essence of the country they come from, but this one comes close to one of the best I have seen so far.

How else would you label Canadian maple syrup?

200 years of London's history in Absolut's designer vodka bottle

In this blog I usually present cases of foods and beverages that use their link with a particular place of origin as a marketing tool, however, this territorial link is usually understood as “provenance”…However, this Absolut London (limited edition) vodka is an example of how you can integrate a link to a particular territory in your marketing.

Not that Absolut is renouncing its Swedish origins (“Country of Sweden” continues to feature prominently in all its bottles), but it has manage to identify itself with the British capital through this design that encompasses 200 years of London’s history.

Besides the great atmosphere it manages to transmit in this vodka bottle design, it opens up an interesting avenue to market beverages (which other cities would you like to feature in the next “limited editions”?) and, certainly, for collectors!

Do you like your cheese mild or strong?

If you go to the cheese section at Waitrose you will find something like this (see above). The numbers in the label indicate the strength of Waitrose’s own range of English Cheddar cheese. I find this is a really smart, simple and efficient way to communicate with the client. There are some many types of cheese that, as a customer, it is easy to get confused.

Some people prefer mild cheese some others prefer mature extra strong cheese. The problem is that the perception is often more subjective than objective…so, well, at least at Waitrose you have an objective scale to measure the strength of cheese.