Ketchup

Red Stripe is repositioning itself with a £2 ad campaign in the music press to establish itself as a ‘beer for bands’.  Part of the repositioning activity is the Red Stripe Music Awards – being seen to put your money where you mouth is. 

The winner of the Red Stripe Music Awards will get a support set at a major concert, as well as sets at two big music festivals. 

If you haven’t already thought so by now, this positioning seems to take the brand rather close to another beer brand, called Carling, which through an excellent, well thought out long-term integrated campaign would probably be the beer most associated with music.  And ironically, the two big music festivals that would probably deliver the best association for such a positioning, would be Reading and Leeds…oh, wait, make that the Carling Weekender.

I like the idea that they’re playing on the heritage of Red Stripe – apparently it was drunk by The Clash, and has appeared on the cover of an Oasis album (probably more to do with being ‘down with the Caribbean’ more than anything else).