Scotland-based BrewDog Brewery is tired of companies jumping on the Royal Wedding bandwagon with commemorative products. In what might be the best marketing stunt involving the royal wedding, the brewery has announced they are brewing a commemorative beer laced with Viagra.
Named “Royal Virility Performance”, BrewDog says the beer is laced with Viagra, chocolate, “horney goat weed” and “healthy dose of sarcasm.”
“With this beer we want to take the wheels off the royal wedding bandwagon being jumped on by dozens of breweries” the company wrote on its Web site. “The Royal Virility Performance is the perfect antidote to all the hype. A beer should be brewed with a purpose, not just because some toffs are getting married” the post continues.
Last month, England’s Castle Rock Brewery brewed 70,000 bottles of a commemorative “Kiss Me Kate” pale ale. Other English Brewers like Adnams Southwold and Greene King are among the British brewers who have looked to cash in on the wedding hype, creating a Royal Wedding Ale and Celebration Ale respectively.
It’s exactly that type of wedding-linked beer promotion that got a rise out of the guys at BrewDog.
“Products marketed according to an event rather than their flavour is an example of what’s wrong with the (brewing) industry”, the company wrote. “There is more to brewing and tasting beer than putting a royal wedding label on it, so we’re showing everyone just how ludicrous it is.”
This isn’t the first time BrewDog has created a stir. The brewery is known for getting attention for its specialty brews, such as their continued quest to produce the world’s strongest beer. They once brewed a limited batch of beer—11 bottles—wrapped them in taxidermied animals and sold them for $750 to $1000 a bottle.
You need to create buzz to sell craft beer and there is little doubt that BrewDog knows how to get themselves attention. So what about “Royal Virility Performance?” It’s generating a tremendous amount of buzz on the Internet. But will it rise to the occasion? For the many folks online looking to get their hands on this beer, the hype is premature. It’s illegal to dispense Viagra in the U.K. without a prescription.
That's a point a Viagra's manufacturer reiterated.
"Viagra is a prescription-only medicine in the United Kingdom and throughout the EU," a Pfizer spokesman said. "As with all prescription medicines, Viagra should not be taken without first seeking the advice of a healthcare professional."
You can still sign-up at BrewDog.com to order a bottle of “Royal Virility Performance.”
It's selling for ten pounds and the company says they are limiting the batch to 1,000 bottles. Twenty percent of all sales will be donated to Centrepoint, a favorite charity of Prince William.
So while BrewDog might not be able to provide Prince William an assist on his wedding night, the company has once again raised its marketing profile.
James Watt, co-founder and the self-proclaimed “Head of Stuff” at BrewDog, wrote that “As the (Royal Virility Performance) bottle says, this is about consummation, not commemoration.”
It might not be the kind of consummation Watt originally had in mind, but BrewDog has certainly consummated another well-executed publicity stunt.
Questions? Comments? Email us at consumernation@cnbc.com
