Lion adds James Squire One Fifty Lashes to its Tap King home dispenser range
Food and beverage company Lion has added its James Squire brand craft beer One Fifty Lashes to the brand portfolio of beers available to use with the Tap King home draft beer keg device.
Lion said James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale was currently the number one selling craft beer in Australia. Lion’s National Marketing Director Matt Tapper said the addition of One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale to the Tap King portfolio would “ensure the product will continue to stake its claim in fridges around Australia”.
Launched in 2013, Tap King is a dispensing device that delivers draught style beer for the at-home beer consumer. The device was designed to fit comfortably within a medium-sized fridge and beer is dispensed from a 3.2L recyclable bottle. The Tap King dispenser has been designed so it can be disassembled and washed so different brews can be attached to it.
Mr Tapper also said the new addition would help Tap King meet consumer demand for craft beer. While it only represents 3.2 per cent of the beer market by volume, craft beer is the fastest growing category in Australia.
“The launch of Tap King was an exciting milestone for the category, and one that has proved popular with drinkers around Australia,” Mr Tapper said. “We made a commitment to developing and promoting better quality experiences for all beer drinkers, and we are delivering on that promise once again by expanding the Tap King range,” he said.
“Since launching, we’ve seen huge demand for Tap King and our research consumers who have had a Tap King experience claim they will purchase the product again,” Mr Tapper said.
In adding One Fifty Lashes to the portfolio, we are ensuring consumers can choose from a popular style of beer and have yet another reason to enjoy the at-home draught beer quality that Tap King provides,” Mr Tapper said.
Lion said the Tap King device was also benefiting from its popular television commercial (TVC) campaign, featuring musician Lionel Richie. Lion said the commercial had been identified as the Company’s most recognisable TVC in the last 12 months, and of those consumers aware of Tap King, 67 per cent claimed to have heard about the product from this source.
“Tap King is obviously resonating with consumers for a number of reasons, and is in turn helping us to drive positive category growth,” Mr Tapper said. ‘A look at our recent data shows that between August 2013 and January 2014, Tap King was the number one brand growth contributor in the packaged beer category,” he said.
James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale joins six other Lion beers in the Tap King portfolio including XXXX GOLD, Hahn SuperDry, James Squire The Chancer Golden Ale, Tooheys Extra Dry and James Boag’s Premium Lager.
Tap King is available at major liquor retailers nationally for RRP $32.99 for the dispenser unit and between RRP $33.00 – $48.00 per 3.2L bottle twin pack. A 3.2L refill of James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale RRP is $27.99 or $51.99 per 3.2L bottle twin pack.
