Carlsberg targets 'beer-haters' with Copenhagen lager

The 4.5% beer, launched last year in Denmark, has secured its first UK listing, with Asda.

The product, brand and design have been developed by Carlsberg’s international innovation department in Copenhagen, in collaboration with the Carlsberg Research Centre. The brewer intends to make the lager a global brand.

According to Carlsberg, the design is intended to reflect the Danish capital’s ‘urban, cosmopolitan and designer image’. The branding incorporates Copenhagen’s latitudinal point, 56° north.

It is not the first time Carlsberg has attempted to grow its female consumer base. In 2010 it launched alcoholic fruit spritzer Eve, which featured Louise Redknapp as brand ambassador. While the product is still on the market in parts of Europe, Carlsberg pulled it from the UK after a year, deciding that it would require too many resources to establish it.

Speaking at the latest launch, Khalil Younes, Carlsberg’s senior vice-president of group sales, marketing and innovation described Copenhagen as a ‘highly drinkable beer, a beer for the beer-hater’.

He added: ‘It’s a gender-neutral metrosexual beer which is working well in northern Europe, so we are expanding it.’

The image and bitterness of lager often acts as a barrier to female drinkers, but Younes argued that Copenhagen overcomes this.

David Scott, Carlsberg UK’s director of marketing, said: ‘Over the next few months, we will be working closely with Asda and developing long-term plans.’

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk