Bass starts £5m iced lager trawl

Bass Brewers is looking for a creative agency to promote the national roll-out of its new Arc chilled lager in a campaign worth up to &£5m.

Arc, a sub-zero temperature draught lager, remains chilled thanks to a specially developed pouring process which creates a head of ice crystals in the glass.

The brand is currently being tested in a handful of outlets, but will be rolled out to 250 pubs in south-east England before the end of the year. Bass is targeting male and female lager drinkers aged up to 30 with Arc.

David Griffiths, Bass marketing manager for new product development, says the company will review Arc’s performance in test outlets before deciding on a final marketing programme.

He says it is possible Arc could be “dropped into the market” without much support, in the same way as Caffrey’s in 1994, or backed with a major campaign, like Carling Rock filter beer which was boosted with a &£5m poster campaign during its launch in 1998.

Griffiths says: “We are trying to build an overall reduction in drinking temperatures.

“Once we’re 100 per cent confident Arc will perform, we’ll look to build a long-term communications programme.”

Last month, Bass hired the Leith Agency to run its &£10m Carling account.