THINKING PARALYSIS, OR A LACK OF COURAGE?

Have we reached thinking paralysis? Has innovation simply got stuck? How do we get ourselves out of this rut when brands are committed to playing safe with un-progressive launches? Category building takes big bucks and the backing of big brands.

Yet what we’re seeing at the moment are safe plays from the world’s leaders, whether that’s higher quality spiced rums (which have a proven market), seasonal gins (which have a proven market), flavoured gins, rums, vodkas et al (which have a proven market), bitter aperitifs (which have a proven market) accessible but premium tequilas (which have a proven and growing market), and aging, sourcing, and distillation experimentation in whiskies or else rebranding of storied brands to make them both cool and unisex (which obviously, have a proven market). No-one seems to be being courageous, offering something new, and moving the market forward.

And that’s a problem. Big brands need to back smaller innovations to truly build new categories, because consumers are fickle, and will get bored. While brands such as Quarter are out there, testing the market with mid-strength products, for example, it would take the launch of a mid-strength version of a well-known spirits brand to truly build awareness and recruit consumers to it.

Without a massive advertising budget, its incredibly hard to break through and tell consumers about your brand, especially when the liquid is genuinely new. And genuinely new is what is needed to recruit new drinkers, boost spend, and stave off a decline that is seeing alcohol-brands increasingly out of kilter with consumer’s changing lifestyles.

Maybe some of this thinking block, or at least, the tightening of the purse strings has something to do with the weird times we’ve all gone through, and hence during which many products currently hitting the market were developed. But if ever there was a time when boldness was needed, it is now.

And so, we wait.

SO UNCOOL, IT'S NOW COOL?

As Yorkshire Tea launches an unexpected summer ‘banger’ in a bid to reach the youth market, we ask has tea — the much-loved, but fairly unexciting beverage — finally tuned a corner when it comes to extending its appeal and updating its image?

It’s fun to google ‘young people and tea’. Among the numerous articles that promise to spill the proverbial tea in fact are a number either freaking out at the younger generation’s shunning of the stuff, or else hyped-up wellness pieces that espouse their deep love of it. ‘Are young people drinking more tea than booze?’ from 2023 and ‘Are young Brits falling out of love with the cuppa?’ from 2016 are just two of my favourites that encapsulate the gulf between these two opposing schools of thought.

What’s the answer to both, you ask? Well, the BBC (quoting PG Tips and Lipton owner Unilever) says that unfortunately Gen Z and millennials think the “traditional cuppa” is a bit meh. They prefer herbal teas and coffees instead. Meanwhile News 24 quotes brand new Mintel UK data to show that actually, more people than ever are choosing a cup of tea over booze. So, which do we believe?

Tea Vs Booze

Well, the Mintel study is more recent, dating back to late 2022, and claims that 48% of British tea lovers say they sometimes drink tea as an alternative to alcohol, and that 49% of all Brits agree that tea is a good alcohol alternative. Furthermore, the largest age group to say so is those aged 26 to 41, with 55% saying they sometimes ditch booze for a cuppa, compared to 44% for those aged 65 and over.

Mintel says cost is the main motivator. Tea is now being seen as a treat, nay, an affordable luxury. Two in five have reduced their alcohol intake to save money. Whereas two-thirds (64%) of those swapping alcohol for tea believe that high-quality teas are an affordable treat.