David Wigham

David Wigham

A SWIFT HALF

DAVID WIGHAM

LIQUID ASSETS, A SWIFT HALF, FEBRUARY 2007, COMMENTS

Customer Marketing Director for Carling, David Wigham is facing a stiff challenge: waking consumers up to the appeal of ‘mid strength’ beers, as NIGHT finds out...

I got into my job…Via a stroke of good fortune! I’d been in Corporate Banking all my working life which gave me a great business grounding - but at 30, I was ready to broaden my horizons. I joined the company’s On Trade Regional Sales team seven years ago before moving to On Trade, then Off Trade National Sales. I am now the Customer Marketing Director for Carling, the UK’s largest and most successful beer brand, which is a fantastic role.

The biggest challenge I face is... I’m wrestling with two things at the moment. One is raising awareness of an emerging beer category – ‘mid strength’. After many years and over 800 recipes Carling has succeeded in brewing a lager to 2% ABV (Carling C2) which looks and tastes like a real pint of beer - all the taste but half the alcohol. At last, we can broaden the number of occasions on which people can enjoy a pint of beer without having to resort to a shandy, NAB/LAB, soft drink or worst of all missing out on a social event altogether. The second challenge is that of advertising – reaching target consumers. I still remember when there was one commercial TV channel – life must have been simple then!

The biggest opportunity is... Getting people to visits pubs in the UK more often. Too many pubs have experienced a decline in visits – however, we see just how dramatically this can be changed when a pub operator gets the formula right.

If I was in charge of the industry I’d... Get all the beer producers to collaborate to promote the virtues of beer. We should treat beer with more reverence and take a lead from the wine industry. Beer can and should be appreciated in the way that consumers seem readily prepared to do with wine.

The way to a consumer’s heart is... Looking good. Consumers buy with their eyes! We have to get our beers looking consistently good – which means fresh bright beer, in a clean glass (preferably branded and nucleated for most lagers) dispensed professionally to ensure the requisite measure, head generation and presentation. Bar staff should take pride in serving the drink correctly and should have good product knowledge on all the beers they serve. We are a long way away from this in the UK at present and could take a lead from the continent where beers are often served with panache.

The best place to drink in Britain... Your local, with friends. Mine’s the Red Lion in Kniveton.

Draught or bottle? In a pub – draught extra cold Carling. In a club or restaurant – often a bottle and the brand would depend on the occasion or the meal. There’s a bottled lager called Kasteel Cru which is brewed in Alsace and made with champagne yeast – it’s fantastic if you can find it.

From: February 2007 Issue

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