A Japanese company has turned a non-alcoholic brew called Kidsbeer into a surprising success.
The drink started out as Guarana, a cola beverage sold at Yuichi Asaba's Shitamachi-ya restaurant in Fukuoka. Asaba renamed the sweet carbonated drink Kidsbeer, a move that made it an instant hit.
Asaba outsourced its production to Tomomasu. Tomomasu tinkered with the drink by decreasing its sweetness and increasing its frothiness, the company said. It began shipping the new version in late 2003.
Tomomasu originally shipped 200 bottles per month, and now produces 75,000. . . The bottles themselves are colored brown to make the drink look even more like beer.
The Kidsbeer label mimics other classic Japanese beer labels. "Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink," reads the product's advertising slogan.
Link.
Gosh, could you imagine the reaction this marketing would get over here? Heck, we wouldn't be shocked if our neo-Prohibitionists verbally attack Japan over this and call for a trade embargo on grounds that Japan is violating its children.
