Stella Artois and ‘Perfect Trade’ Celebrate Pubs for World Beer Day and Beyond

Though beer can – and is – enjoyed in many different locations, having a pint in a really good pub is the platonic ideal. Stella Artois is a brand recognising this intuitively and, more importantly, investing in it too. “Fundamentally, Stella Artois has been built in pubs over the years and decades,” says AB InBev’s Jessica McGeorge-Stevens, global brands marketing director, Europe. "That's really where real connection begins and it's also where we believe beer is enjoyed at its best: it's fresh, it's on draft, and it's perfectly served in a beautiful chalice.”

Perfect Trade

There’s no better time to prove this point than on World Beer Day (August 1st) and to encourage people to visit pubs for a free – that’s right, free – pint of perfectly served Stella. From August 1st to 3rd, as part of the ‘Perfect Trade’ campaign, Stella Artois is partnering with pubs across the UK in a celebration of the role they play in their communities. To take part, consumers can exchange any beer bottle cap for a pint of Stella Artois at participating pubs enrolled in the brand’s ‘Perfect Serve’ quality programme.

In London, the ‘Perfect Trade’ will be available at participating pubs across North London, Soho and Southwark and in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Honouring the brand’s heritage is one of the campaign’s aims while it’s also “an opportunity for us to honour the venues that help create those meaningful moments over beer,” Jessica says. “It’s a furthering and a continuation of our long-standing commitment to trade and a way to encourage consumers back into bars and pubs.”

To expand the programme’s reach, Stella Artois will introduce the Perfect Trade Machine, an on-trade activation popping up across London and Manchester, allowing pedestrians to simply insert any beer cap to trigger a custom tap that ‘pours’ a voucher redeemable for a Perfect Serve pint at participating pubs. By allowing any bottle cap to be exchanged, Stella is recognising and celebrating the whole of the beer industry, according to Jessica, and inviting everyone to experience the ‘Perfect Serve’.

The ‘Perfect Serve’ quality programme is "intrinsic to the brand,” says Jessica. “It’s our commitment to the quality of the beer, as well as also looking to elevate the beer experience in the trade.” What is that ‘perfect serve’? It’s using the iconic Stella Artois chalice; pouring at a 45-degree angle while allowing the foam to spill over the top; using the skimmer to slice the excess foam; finally, it’s placing the pint – with the cartouche (the brand’s iconic emblem representing its 600 years of brewing history) – facing forward towards the consumer.

A Communal Experience

Jessica says that the brand is always looking for exciting ways to increase footfall, so reminding people of the communal experience that being in a pub presents is really a no-brainer – it’s just effective. “The beer industry is extremely important to the hospitality industry,” she states, citing the $878 billion figure that beer contributed to global GDP in 2023, accounting for 33 million jobs. The role beer plays in communities, then, goes well beyond the enjoyment of the product.

In Britain, pubs are institutions; spaces for mates’ catch-ups, dates, weddings, night caps, and lunchtime pints – there’s no denying their cultural significance. “42% of people still go to a pub or bar at least weekly as part of their socialising routine,” Jessica points out, adding “as the biggest brand in the UK, Stella understands our role in continuing to support that with this campaign.”

While Stella, like many of its competitors, is present in the digital space, it sees bars and pubs as vital nexuses for society craving social connections, “and beer fundamentally plays a very intrinsic role in that”.

When the brand thinks about customers, it’s necessarily thinking about pubs, bars, and the people who work there; not just beer’s consumers. Behind many of Stella’s marketing efforts is “a big programme of support for our customers, whether that’s staff training to technical and equipment maintenance, to point-of-sale support, as well as helping to actually drive footfall and venues into our partnering pubs,” she explains.

Above: hero film from AB in Bev, created with GUT, 'Cheers to Bars' is a  global tribute to the role they play in bringing people together.

And the support is sorely needed, with pubs across the UK facing multiple challenges leading to 400 pubs closing their doors in 2024 amid rising costs and cautious public spending. “We're really looking to make it a very holistic programme to support the quality and consumer experience in terms of getting the best beer possible in pubs, but also looking to support our customers and partners with the right support and training to be able to actually deliver that experience,” Jessica adds, emphasising the beer category’s need to invest in the places where customers want to consume it most.

She’s clear that no one campaign can address industry’s wider issues overnight adding “we do take our role as Britain’s biggest beer seriously. We’re looking to continue to invest and to actually drive footfall and support to our venues.”

As for the future of beer culture globally, and Stella’s role within that, Jessica is excited about the launch of its 0.0% ABV beer on draft, tapping into the demand for low and no-alcohol options. It debuted at Wimbledon earlier this summer – one of the brand’s long-term partners – where 500,000 visitors had a chance to try it. The rollout will continue in bars and pubs in a phased approach for the rest of the year. “We’ve worked really hard to find an innovative dispensing solution that’s going to enable the quality consumers expect and make it available in a 0.0 draft option. We now feel confident that we can deliver that Perfect Serve every time. This is going to enable us to have the best of both worlds in terms of the right portfolio to bring to consumers and to drive people to pubs and bars which, in turn, will support the vital piece of British culture and also our community, the pub.” Well, cheers to that!