BRAND CREATOR (Interview with Marian Olteanu - new product development manager with URSUS Breweries)

New Product Development manager sounds impressive. What does it really mean? What is the role of such a manager in a company?

New Product Development Manager means many things. First of all - being up to date with everything that is going on with the market, the consumers, the 'backstage', with what you can deliver as a company. The market is on the move, consumers are evolving, changing, your own company s permanently developing, you have to be informed about everything. But the focus is always on the consumer, we never come up with new products unless we have conducted a very thorough analysis on what the consumer wants. I believe that REDD's is the best example.

Why innovation in a field where everybody bets on tradition?
That is correct, everybody bets on tradition and, in my opinion, especially us! We have the TIMISOREANA and URSUS brands, the Romanian brands with the most powerful emphasis on tradition. However, they are also very innovative brands.

If we look at the packaging, we were the first to launch the printed film multipack. Until then, there were only paperboard multipacks, six-packs actually, so that we came up with something entirely new for the Romanian market. On the other hand, there are also projects for new products, such as non-alcoholic URSUS or URSUS black. These are two new options from the same traditional brand, which quell the consumer's thirst for novelty, for innovation, for variety.

With REDD's, however, we are talking about a deeply innovative concept. How tempting and how risky is it to launch such an idea on a market as competitive as the beer market?
We have a team of young and highly motivated people and we love what we do. How could it not be tempting to launch a new brand? If you work in marketing and you are not tempted, then what could possibly tempt you? How could it not be tempting to launch a premium beer? This segment is attractive by its very defining traits. Finally - and here's where the risky part comes in - how could it not be tempting to launch a beer for women? Who has directly targeted women so far on the beer market? From our point of view, we created a product that women can finally enjoy, without, however, neglecting our male public.

When URUS Breweries decided to launch REDD's, did you feel this was a future market direction and you decided to get ahead of the competition or did you want to be a trendsetter?
We felt that the beer market was ripe for a new challenge, namely flavoured beers. But we mostly wanted to give our consumer an option, the chance to choose a new type of beer. I believe that anyone wants, at some point, a beer that is not bitter, a slightly fizzy beer.

To what extent do you think that REDD's will be successful because it is an URSUS brand?
The fact that the beer comes from URSUS Breweries means a lot. It already benefits from the attributes associated with our company's products: quality, tradition - the consumer knows that, behind the product, there are people who know how to brew beer and that they do it right. On the other hand, however, we bet on the REDD's product and concept, both unitary and very well put together.

What are the main weapons of the marketing people? What are the new marketing strategies you have been employing?
I believe the best weapon of the marketing people is plain common sense. You have to permanently wonder what people's needs are, to try to meet them. REDD's saw a need and gave it a shape. Our consumers conveyed us the need for a product that should not be bitter, that should be less fizzy, more refined. This is a modern product, aimed at dynamic, novelty-embracing people. It is a mix between modernism and tradition. There you have a product that is very traditional - beer, tailored to the today consumer's tastes. People long for more variety and now they can choose a beer that is not bitter.

Are you the only company selling such a product on the Romanian market?
We are. REDD's is the first lemon-flavoured beer made and distributed in Romania.

You target new client categories. Which exactly are they and how many?
The new brand launched by URSUS Breweries targets modern consumers, mainly women, consumers who are open to novelty and innovation, always young, surrounded by friends, people who equally appreciate the quality of the product, but also its image. Women also belong in REDD's colourful universe and they will certainly appreciate the unique REDD's taste, as well as the cosmopolitan and contemporary style of the new brand.

Are there market forecasts for the new product?
We are certain that REDD's meets a real need and that it can make a difference among the premium brands, namely that it can mean something both to the consumers and the producers. We expect this product to be known and appreciated by absolutely everybody from its target segment. Moreover, I believe that REDD's can debut a new beer category - in several years we believe it will form a distinct category.

You have recently stated your intentions to change the beer market map in Romania. What kind of change do you have in mind?
Let's draw a map of the beer market - what shall we put on it? Let's put the consumers first. Before REDD's, the consumer were: younger men, older men, men from region X... and so on. I believe that no one put women on this map. So I say that we have already made a change here. If we put beer on the map - we had blond beer, red beer, dark beer, non-alcoholic beer.

I don't think there was any flavoured beer! So we changed the map in this respect, too. If we think about the brands on the Romanian market, there are modern brands and traditional brands, but I don't think there was any splash of colour. So I believe we introduced something completely new on the brand map, as well. In all these three dimensions - consumer, product, brand - we have managed to bring something new.