Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC (Fuller’s), the London brewer and premium pub company, has just launched London Pride Unfiltered, which it says is its biggest beer launch in a generation, at the four-day long Craft Beer Rising event in the former Truman Brewery in London’s East End which took place this weekend.

The event started with a trade-only day on February 22^nd,and opened to the public from February 23^rd until February 25^th. Fulham-based agency marketing agency ignis created an activation space to bring the new product and the Fuller’s brand to life for the event.

London Pride Unfiltered is a 4.1% unfiltered variant of one of the UK’s favourite beers and comes in 30 litre kegs, which Fullers says will open the brand up to a new consumer and a new drinking occasion.

ignis Executive Creative Director, Nick Peters, says: “Craft Beer Rising provides a fantastic opportunity to introduce the brand to a new audience, as well as those well versed in London Pride cask. When it came to designing the space, it was important to ensure that it showcased ‘Unfiltered’, not just as a process, but as a unique attitude, rooted in contemporary London.”

The beer is brewed true to London Pride’s original recipe, but is then dry hopped with Target Hops for added character and flavour. With the goal of making the beer as natural as possible, the beer is centrifuged, but not filtered or pasteurised, to retain taste, complexity and Fuller’s character. The result, according to Fuller’s, is a hazy, hoppy, tasty beer in a keg, served at between 4° and 6° degrees, which delivers quality and flavour.

Fullers Beer Company managing director Simon Dodd observes: “The London Pride brand name has heritage and authenticity and we now feel the time has come to leverage these qualities and bring London Pride to a more contemporary environment. Our excellent brewing team has taken the same great recipe and, by dry hopping the beer at the end, created a beer, in keg, that has balance, flavour and is true to the character of any Fullers beer.”

Fuller, Smith and Turner is an independent traditional family brewer founded in 1845 and based at the historic Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London, where brewing has taken place continuously since 1654. The Fuller’s Beer Company brews a portfolio of premium beers including London Pride, Oliver’s Island, ESB, Organic Honey Dew and Frontier Craft Lager. In June 2013, the Company acquired Cornish Orchards, a craft cider maker producing a range of award-winning ciders and premium soft drinks. Fuller’s is also the UK distributor for premier US craft beer Sierra Nevada.

ignis is a multi-award winning independent brand activation agency based in Fulham. It has worked for clients including Jameson Whiskey, Sheraton Hotels, FST, Betfair and Cuticura.

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Strongbow, the UK’s leading cider brand from Heineken, is giving drinkers a fright with its on-trade consumer activation ‘The Haunted’ this Halloween.

Worth more than £300m in sales in 2015, Halloween is now the second biggest night in the on-trade calendar after New Year’s Eve. In order to help publicans maximise this important occasion and drive growth in sales, 11,000 Strongbow POS kits featuring a guaranteed instant-win consumer competition are being distributed.

Strongbow’s ‘The Haunted’ is running in outlet from now until November 3^rd 2016, giving drinkers the chance to win a range of prizes, including a trip to Prague and haunted hotel breaks, through a peel-and-wet reveal card given with a pint of Strongbow.

New for this year, Strongbow is launching a dedicated consumer microsite for the competition, including a venue finder and code entry mechanism, alongside T&Cs and FAQs. There is also a dedicated trade area where publicans can find additional material to amplify the Halloween occasion, including pumpkin carving templates, pub quiz suggestions, Halloween playlists and digital assets to use on social channels.

As well as the prize cards and merchandise prizes, each POS kit also includes a variety of blood-curdling gadgets that publicans can use to activate the competition and attract people through the door over the Halloween period. Outlets will be able to fully embrace the Halloween spirit by displaying materials such as empty belly posters, a specially designed eye-catching back-bar card holder, and paranormal activity caution tape to add a spooky touch to the venue and immerse consumers in the Halloween atmosphere.

Andy Turner, Category & Trade Marketing Director On-Trade, Heineken, says: “We know how huge an opportunity Halloween is for pubs and bars and it’s definitely a key occasion for publicans to drive extra footfall and sales. It’s all about offering partygoers a fun place to spend their whole evening, and we think Strongbow’s ‘The Haunted’ adds an extra element for the consumer, driving repeat sales for licensees and keeping customers in their outlet for longer.”

In addition to being the UK’s leading cider and beer business, Heineken owns around 1,050 pubs through its Star Pubs & Bars business. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s and Bulmers, backed by a full range of niche and speciality brands.

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