The legend
According to legend, Lord Somersby is the father of many great discoveries – but the most famous of them all is probably Somersby Cider, which was the favorite drink of celebrities like Napoleon, Cleopatra, and Newton. The timing seems a little off, but that’s legends tend to veer off course a bit in the telling and re-telling.
Available in many different delicious variants, the most popular variants of the Somersby portfolio are Apple, Pear, and Blackberry. Somersby cider has obtained a reputation of spreading joy and sunny togetherness wherever it’s served and thereby attracts curious and open-minded people across the world.
The business objectives – Somersby
Somersby, a brand in the Carlsberg Group portfolio, has expanded to multiple countries in the last 5 years (43 countries alone in 2016). Their main objectives when approaching a new country are: penetration, frequency, profitability, and velocity.
Figure 80. Key Performance Indicators
In this scenario, the business objectives were used as filters to understand who has the potential to be the face of the brand, or in other words, the ASPIRATIONAL PORTRAIT, in each country.
Filter 1 – Penetration
The goal is to understand which segments are the most influential in the beer category. The influencing model allows us to calculate how many people a message will be relevant to, if we target a certain segment with a value proposition tailormade to suit their category needs and lifestyle tension points.
Figure 81. Influence Impact
Filter 2 – Frequency
The point of this objective is to understand which segments have the potential to drink cider more frequently: we look for the people who already drink cider, have a more active and social lifestyle, and are typically early adopters.
Figure 82. Frequency of Consumption
Filter 3 – Profitability
Somersby is a premium brand, which is why at this stage it’s important to check which segments are willing to pay for the added value. It’s important to measure the appeal of the global values of the brand for each segment and their social economic level: Do they have money for premium ciders? AND are they willing to spend this money on Somersby because it appeals to them?
Figure 83. Premium Spenders
Filter 4 – Message velocity
Checking which segments can spread the values of Somersby to the rest of the population as quickly as possible is an important factor in any new brand launch. It was determined that their Internet usage, and their social lifestyle are both important factors.
Figure 84. Brand Message Velocity
Summary
As highlighted in the chart, only one segment passed all four filters, thus becoming the long-term communication target for Somersby.
Figure 85. High-Value Customer Targeting
In the case of introducing Somersby in Portugal, the CHARDONNAY GIRLS best represented the ASPIRATIONAL PORTRAIT the Carlsberg team was seeking to target. Accordingly, brand communications will be focused on addressing the needs and tension points of CHARDONNAY GIRLS. Due to the influencing patterns uncovered in the targeting process, it’s clear that this CHARDONNAY GIRLS-focused message is going to be relevant to the majority of the population. Carlsberg knows that a successful brand launch starts from understanding the right target and then delivering the right brand message, in the right channel, at the right time and place.
Figure 86. Successful Brand Launch Formula
by Matteo Rinaldi
