Ready, set, froth! Beer wars go a notch higher

By WINSLEY MASESE

The battle for the beer market, especially the malt segment, is expected to get stiffer as media campaigns take centre stage.

Keroche Breweries Ltd recently relaunched its Summit Malt brand, changing the colour of the bottle from brown to green.

Interestingly, this is the same colour as that of East African Breweries’ Tusker Malt Lager.

Whether by coincidence or strategy, the well-orchestrated marketing strategy by the Naivasha-based brewer has triggered a response from the Ruaraka-based brewer that began running Tusker Malt Lager adverts a few days after the relaunch.

Ready to rumble

The decision by EABL to run a Tusker Malt Lager campaign, to the exclusion of the brewers’ other products, points to its readiness to take Keroche head on.

As the two firms come out to either increase or retain their respective market shares, it will be interesting to watch how the battle of the froth unfolds.

However, Keroche Breweries Chief Executive Tabitha Karanja said the relaunch was informed by public demand.

“We do not compete with any other player in the market. We are a small and medium company and want to focus on what we should be doing in the industry,” she said.

Karanja added that the brewer also improved the taste of their malt by brewing it longer than it used to.

“We want our customers and others to taste the beer and decide for themselves, but most importantly, we believe our brand is better,” she said.

Bottle colour

She denied that the change of the bottle’s colour to that of EABL’s is meant to confuse customers, saying Keroche has its own market.

“In developed economies, colour has no bearing on the market of a given product. Our change was necessitated by customer demand,” she said.

Keroche also plans to build stronger distribution networks.

“We have established structures to boost the brand in every part of the country,” Karanja added.

During the relaunch of the brand at Carnivore grounds in Nairobi last week, Karanja said the new product indicates hhas grown since independence.

“It is time for us to be confident and innovative to compete in the market.”

Tusker Malt was first introduced into the Kenyan market in 1996 and enjoyed unrivalled market share until the entry of Summit Malt in 2009.

In 2010, EABL relaunched Tusker in what analysts contended was a strategy to sustain its market share after the entrance of Summit Malt.

It is also suspected that Keroche relaunched its flagship brand at the Carnivore last week after EABL unveiled its latest product, dubbed Balozi, a malt-based, sugar-free drink.

The Balozi launch came after Keroche announced a Sh2.5 billion expansion plan — expected to be completed by December — that will see it grow production capacity 10-fold to 100 million litres annually.

This will make Keroche one of the largest indigenous companies in the country, and boost its competitive edge against EABL.

Other brewers angling for a piece of Kenya’s beer market include South Africa’s SABMiller, Dutch-based Heineken and Sierra Brewery, which is run by a local entrepreneur.

wmasese@standarmedia.co.ke