Step change for Bombardier – Brands news – Ale – Morning Advertiser

Does ale have anything to learn from lager?

Wells & Young’s is today unveiling a new handpull design for its Bombardier brand, which takes its inspiration from lager fonts.

The brewer has spent a year on the project, investing a seven-figure sum in a bid to lure in new, younger drinkers to the cask-ale category, marketing director Chris Lewis revealed.

The new £500 font has been designed to make a key feature of the handpull and has cask beer emblazoned down both sides. It also has an illuminated badge and takes up less room on a bar than a standard handpull — the company says four of the new handpulls will fit in the same space as three of the traditional design.

“This is the boldest thing anyone has done in cask beer for the last 30 years,” Lewis told the Morning Advertiser. “Prominence on bars and illuminated fonts have been important step changes in the marketing of beer,” he said. “Yet in the cask-beer industry we have let other categories such as lager have it too easy by not shouting our presence on the bar in the same way.”