We hope to legitimise the flavoured beer category with Kingfisher’s entry: Vikram Bahl

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In 1978, Vijay Mallya launched Kingfisher Premium beer, revitalising a defunct brand from the United Breweries Group, originally introduced in 1857. Since then, Kingfisher has been a trailblazer in the Indian beer industry. Recently, the brand made a bold move by entering the flavoured beer segment, unveiling two new flavours.

Adgully caught up with Vikram Bahl, Chief Marketing Officer, United Breweries Ltd, at the launch event in Mumbai on January 17, 2025 to know more about Kingfisher’s foray into flavoured beers, the evolving consumer preferences in the alcohol beverage industry, and the brand’s roadmap for 2025. Bahl also discusses the significance of influencer and celebrity endorsements in marketing alcoholic beverages, the global trends shaping the industry, and the innovative strategies Kingfisher plans to employ to enhance its presence in India.

What inspired Kingfisher to enter the flavoured beer segment, given that flavoured beers aren’t new to the market, with several brands and microbreweries already offering unique options? How do you foresee this reshaping the brand’s portfolio?

Kingfisher is an iconic brand in the country, as everyone knows, and it is also a very innovative brand. We always strive to identify and adopt trends early. Given the scale of our brand, we aim to democratise these trends, making them accessible to more people through our extensive distribution network.

Currently, flavours are a significant trend in the country, especially in food and beverages. Taste is the primary driver for consumer preference in this category, so offering variety makes perfect sense. Globally, flavoured beers are very popular, and while this may not be the first flavoured beer in India, the segment here is still in its infancy, representing a minuscule market share.

With a brand like Kingfisher entering the flavoured beer segment, we hope to grow and legitimise this category. We have also undertaken considerable research to determine which flavours would resonate most with our consumers.

Could you elaborate on the flavours? Are there any specific campaigns or initiatives planned to promote the launch of Kingfisher’s flavoured beers? How will these efforts highlight the uniqueness of the product and engage your target audience?

Before delving into the campaigns, let me talk about the flavours. When we decided to explore flavoured beers, we wanted to incorporate the vibrant trend of street food into our product. Street food is immensely popular in India, so we thought, why not infuse its essence into beer?

We identified key ingredients and flavours associated with street food and conducted extensive consumer testing. Mango and lemon emerged as the most liked flavours. We then added our own twist, creating Lemon Masala and Mango Berry variants. These ideas were further shared and tested with consumers, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback. We’re very excited about bringing these offerings to the market.

As you know, the Alcobev industry cannot advertise directly, but there are other effective ways to create awareness. The key to promoting flavoured beers lies in visibility and engagement at the point of sale, as this is an impulse-driven product. Our efforts will focus on premium outlets, including bars, restaurants, and premium off-trade stores.

We’ll ensure excellent visibility for the product, train staff such as bartenders, waiters, and counter sales personnel to educate customers, and organise in-store sampling. These initiatives will help us introduce the product effectively and highlight its unique appeal to consumers.

How have consumer preferences in the alcohol beverage industry shifted over the past few years, particularly in terms of flavour innovation and product offerings?

It’s a very exciting sector, with a high degree of consumer involvement. People are always eager to try and experiment with new things.

As you may have noticed over the last couple of years, we’ve launched several new products, each leveraging a significant market trend. For instance, we introduced Heineken Silver a couple of years ago, which capitalised on the growing demand for more sessionable beers – lighter, less bitter, yet maintaining premium quality. It’s a step towards making beer 100% more accessible and enjoyable.

Last year, we launched Queen Fisher, inspired by the increasing number of women socialising, including working professionals who enjoy a drink. This product catered to their preferences and reflected the evolving social landscape.

Just a few months back, we launched Amstel, which addresses the trend of sessionability in strong beers, particularly in the premium international strong beer category.

We’ve been closely monitoring these trends and ensuring that we remain ahead of the curve with our offerings.

Now, regarding flavoured beers, while this may not be the first such product in the market, it comes from the house of Kingfisher. That alone sets it apart. If you were to ask 100 beer drinkers in the country whether they’ve tried a flavoured beer, I’m confident that 99.5% wouldn’t even be aware of the concept. That’s where Kingfisher comes in – to not only introduce flavoured beers, but to make them mainstream and a more recognisable option for Indian consumers.

With the rise of craft beers and flavoured options, how has Kingfisher observed changes in the typical consumer demographic? Are younger generations driving these trends?

I think the emergence of craft beers is fantastic as it adds a lot of excitement to the category. It’s great for consumers because it provides them with more options. Many people are introduced to the category through craft beers, which is wonderful.

However, when they want bottled beer, they can turn to us. Our brand is widely available, making it a reliable choice for such occasions. I believe this is positive for the category as a whole, and the presence of more players only enhances it further.

We also have Ultra Witbier, which is a wheat beer, available in bottled and canned formats. It’s another option for consumers to explore and enjoy.

How important is influencer and celebrity endorsement in today’s marketing strategies, especially for products like flavoured beers? Have you seen a change in how consumers react to these kinds of promotions?

We do not use influencers or celebrities. That’s completely off-limits for us, so we don’t engage in that at all.

What we do, however, is leverage influence within on-trade outlets, such as pubs and bars. Here, we focus on engaging with bartenders, who are incredibly influential. By interacting with bartenders and equipping them with the right knowledge about our products, we tap into their ability to guide consumer preferences.

These are the real influencers, and we’ve seen substantial evidence that this approach is the number one driver of preference for alcoholic beverage brands.

What global marketing trends in the alcohol beverage industry have caught your attention recently? Are there any strategies that Kingfisher plans to adopt from international markets?

We have trends of our own in the country, but we also tend to adopt trends from the West. To be honest, one of our inspirations for introducing flavours was observing how significant they are in other parts of the world. This is a trend we’ve picked up globally and brought into our market.

For instance, when we launched our wheat beer, it was inspired by the global trend for wheat beers, and we are leveraging that successfully.

Looking ahead, we may explore other options, such as non-alcoholic offerings. Globally, we have Heineken 0.0, a non-alcoholic beer that tastes exactly like Heineken, but contains no alcohol. It has been performing extremely well in international markets, and we have already introduced it in the country.

While the non-alcoholic beer segment is still relatively small here, we see significant potential for its growth in the future.

With the increased importance of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, how is Kingfisher integrating these elements into its global marketing approach?

We are an extremely responsible company and part of a large global multinational. We take our sustainability efforts very seriously.

If you refer to our annual report, you will see that we transparently publish all our sustainability initiatives. A major priority for us is water conservation, and we have set clear targets in this area. We are continuously making progress towards achieving them.

Additionally, we are actively working with farmers to support barley cultivation, as barley is one of the key ingredients in our products. We are focusing on increasing barley plantation in regions where it is grown, thereby improving farmers’ livelihoods while also promoting localised barley production.

There is a significant amount of effort that goes into these initiatives, and we are committed to maintaining transparency in this regard.

Would you like to give us a walkthrough of Kingfisher's roadmap for the year ahead, particularly for the Indian market?

There will be non-stop action with Kingfisher. It’s a fantastic brand. While I don’t want to reveal too much about our future plans, if you look at the past years, Kingfisher has always been larger than life – it truly embodies the spirit of being the “King of Good Times”. For example, with Kingfisher Flavours, we are starting the launch in Daman, followed by Goa, and then we will expand to other states across the country. The next state on our list will most likely be Maharashtra, and from there, we’ll continue to roll it out to additional states.

In this category, there is a defined process for launching a product. We need to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, and each state operates on its own timeline. As such, we are somewhat governed by these requirements.