At the end of May Cobra Beer was bought by a joint venture between Molson Coors and the brand's founder Lord Karan Bilimora after entering a pre-packaged administration.
Ahead of the sale it had been on an aggressive push to broaden the beer's appeal beyond its heartland of Indian restaurants and into mainstream pubs and bars. The ultimate aim was to make the brand an attractive target for acquisition.
It has done this through a £14m marketing campaign with the strapline ‘Now you're talking'. The creative theme of the advertising, which spanned TV, outdoor and press aimed to link the brand to witty comments.
But this looks set to change as this week Molson Coors marketing director Simon Davies said he would like to see the brand ‘adopt a more premium positioning'.
‘It's a good, powerful world beer with a strong exotic provenance,' he added. ‘This would work better with our portfolio.'
One source close to the deal said this made sense. ‘The brief that the Cobra management was given was to grow the brand quickly to make it attractive for a sale.'
Molson Coors mainly wanted Cobra for the access it would provide into its 6,500-strong Indian restaurant stockists, he claimed ‘The only part of the business they have kept is the sales team. They now have people within the business with links to these channels.'
Graham Abbott, the director of specialist drinks agency Box Marketing, has worked with both Molson Coors and Cobra. He said the move into the off-trade was a step in the right direction. ‘They were starting to get into quality city centre outlets,' he commented.
However he says the initiative was ultimately hampered by the industry-wide decrease in lager sales and the dominance of a few brewers in the on-trade.
There will be no new advertising for the rest of the year but it looks as if 2010 will mark Cobra's return to it Indian heritage.