#MarketingEventsAwards 2021 highlight: APB takes trade partners through the Alps for Edelweiss launch

The pandemic has had a major effect on the F&B and events sector. While there was a surge in consumer demand for more diverse, novel and premium beers, with the limited restrictions, meeting these demands has been a challenge.

According to Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), Asia is now the fastest growing beer market, with Singapore’s wheat beer segment leading the pack. The company knew that to meet consumers’ demands it would have to win the trust of its trade partners first.

Tapping on the popularity of wheat beers in Singapore, APB worked with POPPER ASIA to craft a two-day trade event for the launch of the Edelweiss wheat beer.

The multisensory storytelling engagement, which perfectly captured the essence of the brand, impressed the judges, winning silver for Best Event Branding and bronze for Best Event Ambience & Best Immersive experience at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Marketing Events Awards 2021.

Challenge

The global pandemic has had a detrimental impact on many businesses. The closure of entertainment venues, bars and restaurants resulted in fewer platforms for brands such as APB to introduce and launch new products within the company.

The pandemic also greatly limited event activities such as product sampling, and additional arrangements had to be made to ensure participants adhered to COVID-19 safety measures.

With a greatly saturated market and a wide variety of brands already available to consumers, APB knew it had to convince its trade partners to include Edelweiss in their offerings to get ahead of the game.

Strategy

From a macro perspective, APB saw there was a strong upward growth potential when it compared the spending power of Singapore versus other developed nations through the lens of per capita consumption. Singapore had the opportunity to match Japan, Norway, Australia, and Switzerland.

As such, APB wanted to strategise a way to stand out from the cluster of existing brands and convince its trade partners about the new product, and craft a unique experience that would convince them to add Edelweiss to their menus and shelves.

Ultimately, it wanted to showcase Edelweiss’ brand position and uniqueness to internal staff and trade partners and create excitement so that it would, in turn, be upsold to consumers.

The first step taken by its agency POPPER ASIA was to understand the brand and current beer market and know its target audience. This helped to develop the brand essence and communicate key messages to the target audience.

Being in the midst of the pandemic, the team also looked to identify pain points to create a journey and driving factor to the event. POPPER conceptualised and crafted the trade launch with a journey to uncover Edelweiss, along with a nationwide campaign.

Execution

A trade launch was conceptualised to take the audience on a journey to the Alps to discover Edelweiss’ heritage.

Born and raised in the Austrian Alps since 1646, the Edelweiss wheat beer is known for its pure and rich taste of alpine nature. It’s brewed with all natural ingredients, and a refreshing hint of mountain herbs.  

The team created the optimal Edelweiss experience from the path to the Alps to its peak where the audience would discover the rare Edelweiss flower. With the event flow in mind, POPPER designed the entire event space with 3D rendering ensuring the experience was in line with the brand’s value and objectives, with seamless branding at every zone.

Various collaterals were created such as e-invitations, name badges, posters, as well as the launch video. Meanwhile, the set-up took an entire day to create and rehearsal took place the next day to ensure a smooth flow for the video.

The team created various zones in the event space that provided different visuals and auditory stimulations, activities and information. 

The audience was taken on a journey through four zones: the beginning, the snowy path, the mid-point and the peak.

The first zone mimicked the experience of taking a tram to the Alps. The audience was treated to scenic views of the mountains, background sounds of the tram moving along the tracks as well as RGB lighting that produced the effect of a fast-moving tram.

At the second zone, guests arrived at the snowy path where they were greeted by brand ambassadors and given a map to begin their journey to discover the Edelweiss flower. This zone featured a snowy background and a hazy effect similar to what could be seen at the Alps.

At the third zone, guests arrived at the mid-point which featured a herb garden, showcasing the various herbs that go into the production of Edelweiss. The scent of the herbs was amplified through the use of scent diffusers, and a heavy fog was created to mimic the atmosphere of the snowy mountains.

At the last zone, guests finally arrived at the peak where they were treated to spectacular views from the summit of the Alps as well as the final reveal of the Edelweiss flower.

Partners had by then had an immersive experience, first-hand information, and finally, exclusive deals.

Results

The event has successfully reached and created great impact to various trade partners and APB has achieved remarkable distribution rate and volume growth after the product launch. In addition, attendees provided positive feedback complimenting the creativity and execution of the event despite strict COVID safety measures.