ST. PETERSBURG -- Bravo International returned to the St. Petersburg city beer market with the launch Tuesday of its new brand, Yunkerskoye.
The new beer, which is named after the lowest officer rank in the pre-revolutionary Russian army - will be promoted by well-known Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov, who attended the launch.
His latest film, The Barber of Siberia, was also devoted to the Tsarist era.
Earlier this year, Bravo International, known primarily as a producer of soft drinks, entered the market with Bochkarev beer, and later followed up with German L?wenbrau and Danish Bear Beer under license from the original producers.
Bochkarev, with a $35 million investment, was launched in March and was followed with a wide advertising campaign that earned it a significant position on the city market, despite its slightly more expensive price. Its share of the St. Petersburg market was 6.6 percent in June, and 53 percent of consumers have already tasted it, according to a study carried out by research company SNITs Ltd.
"We are very happy with the Bochkarev brand," said Brian Kean, marketing director of Bravo International in a telephone interview Monday.
Bravo is expecting to follow up on its success with Bochkarev by flooding the city market with Yunkerskoye, though Bravo officials declined to comment Monday on the exact amount of production of the new beer.
But other St. Petersburg breweries have also responded to the growing competition with their own product launches. The brewery Stepan Razin, which according to the SNITs study has the largest market share at 38 percent, named its new brand after St. Petersburg soccer team Zenit to capitalize on the popularity of the city's Russia Premier Soccer League team. With the team's victory in the league championship this season, the factory's choice of a name for the beer proved fortuitous.
"The beer was launched in March, before Zenit won the Russian cup," said Alexei Lagoisky, head of the marketing and advertising department in a telephone interview Monday.
As a result of the growing demand of beer during the abnormally hot summer months, the company did not experience any real change in their sales due to the entrance of Bravo onto the market, Lagoisky said.
Last month, Baltika, whose annual output of 600 million liters and nationwide distribution network make it the largest Russian brewery, introduced its tenth variety of beer. Bottled in 1.5 liter plastic bottles, Medovoye - or Honey - should target the lower price niche, said Lyudmila Fomicheva, the company's spokeswoman.
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