The four new drinks, Kalnapilis, Export, 4.30, and 7.30 (the latter two named after their respective alcohol percentages), were developed over a two-year period with an investment of 160 million litas ($40 million). The brewery also claims to have surveyed 50,000 beer drinkers to gauge their opinions of the new beers. Most of those questioned were in the Panevezys region, which buys from 10 to 15 percent of Kalnapilis' production. The people there overwhelmingly rejected production of a dark beer, the company said.
On the labels are new-fangled temperature indicators, which light up when the beer reaches the optimum temperatures of minus 6 to minus 8 degrees Celsius. The bottles also come with a toll-free quality hotline.
Evident in this move is the brewery's decreasing popularity. Kalnapilis, which led the Lithuanian beer market in 1997 to 1998, has in recent months seen its brand slump and sales drop off by roughly 2 percent. The brewery now claims 20.4 percent of the total beer market in Lithuania.
This year the market is being led by Klaipeda-based Svyturys Brewery, which has been increasing in popularity and is becoming the Lithuanian beer standard, with nearly a third of the beer market. Utenos Alus, last year's market leader, is in second place with roughly 25 percent of the market.
Utenos and Kalnapilis are both owned by the same parent company, the Scandinavian-based Baltic Beverages Holding. Stasys Krasauskas, Utenos Alus' director general, sits on the new five-member Kalnapilis board.
Experts are questioning Kalnapilis' drastic measures.
"It's a little bit strange why they changed from all old brands to all new brands, because their old brands were good and well-promoted. Now they decided to change their entire family of ideas," said Audrius Vidzys, president of the Lithuanian Breweries Association. "It's a bit risky of course, but consumers also like new things on the markets."
A little Lithuanian beer history: Before 1995, when it was purchased by the Swedish Baltic Beverage Holding Company, Kalnapilis held third place in the beer market. After the new investor came on board, the company started to promote itself intensely.
The move paid off. The brand was catapulted to number one, a position it held from 1997 to 1998. Then last year Utenos overtook Kalnapilis, Vidzys reports, and Kalnapilis dropped to third place this year, after Klaipeda-based Svyturys jumped to first.
Svyturys, which was purchased by the Danish Carlsberg company last year, should be hard to top. It boosted its month-on-month beer sales by 56 percent last month and increased its market share from 24.8 percent to 31.8 percent, said an ELTA report. Last year, the brewer reported record sales, but plans to restructure next month into a closed joint stock company.
"They're spending quite a lot of money on marketing," said Vidzys. "Their beer has a good name. Consumers like it. The battle between BBH and Carlsberg has practically started."
Some observers say that Kalnapilis' fall is easily explained. Kalnapilis, said one beer industry analyst who wished not to have his name printed, was in first place because it was the only Lithuanian beer to use a lot of promotion. From 1996 to 1998, there were no other competitors using heavy promotions.
"Kalnapilis' first place was not very stable," he said. "Svyturys is more stable."
Kalnapilis has plans to start exporting to the United States, where the brand name has already been introduced.
"It will not be a big amount but we think that while Lithuania is moving into the European Union, Lithuania is looking for export possibilities now," Kalnapilis Director General Remigijus Sydeikis told reporters last week.
Although Kalnapilis claims that the new beers are compliant with ISO 9000 standards, it won't be seeking the actual certification.
"It would cost a lot and we don't need a bureaucratic cap on our beer, so at the moment we will not seek it," said Sydeikis.
It seems that Lithuanian beers stand a good chance of faring well in foreign markets. ELTA reported that beers from Kalnapilis and Utenos were presented at a show in the American city of Baltimore, Maryland. According to George Mickalonis, the head of the Baltimore World Trade Center, Lithuanian beer was the most popular among breweries from 20 countries.
Beer drinking, as the Lithuanian Breweries Association reports, is becoming an increasingly popular pastime in Lithuania. Last month all breweries in the association reported to have sold 1.22 million decalitres of beer, a 21 percent increase from January.
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