UK: Carlsberg makes investment to reinforce image of its Italian lager brand Poretti

Carlsberg has made a multi-million pound investment into its Italian lager brand Poretti to reinforce the beer’s image in the UK.

Speaking to the drinks business (db), Sam Johnson, head of marketing for Poretti said: “Poretti has enjoyed fantastic growth over the past four years. In the latest quarter, the brand is the second fastest growing lager in the on-trade. Now, we want to turbo-charge that growth and cement our place as a leading world beer brand.”

Alongside the investment, a new advertising campaign is set to roll out to encourage beer drinkers to look beyond the expected.

Johnson told db: “With the launch of this distinctive new brand campaign, we’re investing more than ever to reach more drinkers and drive even more growth for the brand. Our hope is that people see Poretti as a premium Italian lager that embodies the quality and style of Northern Italy but in a playful and unconventional way. The campaign will be supported through activations in both the on and off trade throughout the year, so people will have plenty of opportunities to see and try the beer if they haven’t already.”

According to data from CGA and Nielsen up to 28 December 2024, Birrificio Angelo Poretti was outlined as the UK’s fastest growing Italian lager. In a timely-fashion, Carlsberg has declared that the activity that will support it for 2025 will mark a significant turning point for the Italian heritage brand.

The trend for world lager continues to grow and has been outlined by db as a beer style to watch for 2025. making the investment incredibly timely. Data from the most recent Heineken Beer Report also backed up this claim and highlighted the fact that a significant driver behind the success of beer in the on-trade has been down to the growth of the world lager category. The category comprises 28% of the beer market, according to the research.

Johnson agreed and added: “With the continued growth in world lager, more and more brands have entered the category, making it highly competitive. Drinkers now have more choices than ever, so it is important to stand out. However, at the same time, we’ve seen that world beer advertising has devolved into a Mediterranean sea of sameness. The fact is that most ads are not remembered, so we needed to do something bold and distinctive to capture people’s attention.”

The campaign now being laid out by Carlsberg for Poretti has been set in the Northern lakes of Italy and will roll out on television, online, in cinemas and via social media platforms. Added to this, Carlsberg has revealed that it will be hosting a series of events and experiences for the Poretti brand as part of its planned activities. These will include a launch event at Frameless, the largest permanent multi-sensory experience in the UK.

Speaking about the reasoning behind its “extraordinary” new campaign for Poretti, Johnson admitted that “the world beer advertising has devolved into a sea of sameness. We wanted to inject something new and distinctive into the category.”

Describing how beer advertising had hit a lull, Johnson explained: “The reality is that daily life can become quite routine and predictable. We want to inspire our audiences to discover the extraordinary things that can happen when they choose not to settle for the usual.”

Facing the challenges
Carlsberg, as a business has had to navigate a few challenges of late. For instance, last year, the brewing giant lost its San Miguel licence deal to AB InBev and had admitted to db that it was disappointed with the turn of events.

However, despite the setback, the business continued to reiterate how it still had a strong portfolio of brands available on its books in the UK and these included: Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, Birrificio Angelo Poretti and Brooklyn Pilsner along with British ales such as Hobgoblin and Wainwright. Staying strong amid headwinds, the global brewer even faced controversy from CAMRA due to its ‘fresh ale’ concept by tackling the issues head on and staying involved in talks about the future of beer quality.

Back in 2023, Carlsberg had also agreed a deal to acquire the Kronenbourg 1664 brand from Heineken, following up with the launch of the super-premium 1664 Blanc last year and had set about relaunching the lager brand under the ‘1664’ banner with the redesigned 1664 Bière. This it took on at a time when it was also reforming its business and as such was facing a swathe of challenges. Among these were the closure of historic brewing sites, a decision which, at the time, was heavily criticised by beer fans. But while all of this played out, the company went on to make strides towards running a more sustainable business – including a £10 million investment into its Northampton brewery.

The business has come a long way with the two years that have passed being ones that have been especially full for the brewer. In the background, Carlsberg has done a great deal of research into who the Poretti drinker is and what they want from a beer.

Johnson told db: “We have a broad audience, generally aged between 25 and 59 years old. They are typically people who really value spending quality time with friends and family and enjoy socialising. For this audience, we also know that they find interest and fulfilment in experiencing new things, but that all too often, the hustle and bustle of daily life means they default to the convenience of the familiar and expected. We want to encourage them to look beyond the expected and discover something extraordinary.”

He noted “We wanted to do something different, to challenge the category norms in a way that still felt premium and authentic.” Plus, as Johnson reminded, the goal was to lift people’s spirits by making them laugh once again and bring back a bit of that verve. With this, he added: “Humour is something that’s been lacking from beer advertising in recent years, so we wanted to bring a bit of that back.”

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