Coors Brewers is trying to reposition its Carling brand as a truly British beer by highlighting the fact it is made from UK-sourced ingredients.

The new campaign will also focus on the fact Carling is made from just four natural ingredients - barley, hops, yeast and water - with no added chemicals, in a bid to tap into the wellbeing trend.

"Focus group research indicated consumers had the perception that lagers were full of chemicals and other nasty ingredients," said Adrian Davey, MD off-trade. "They were surprised when we told them Carling was totally natural and we used only British malted barley, so we thought we should start flagging this up. In fact we use 20% of the total British barley crop each year for Carling."

The message will start to appear on cans and bottle labels this summer and the brewer is planning an advertising campaign around the message later in the year.

Coors is also launching its mid-strength Carling C2 brand, which was previously only available in cans, into 300ml bottles in the off-trade this summer. "We sensed an opportunity for C2 in bottles as not only do some people simply not enjoy the experience of beer out of a can, beer in bottles opens C2 up to new occasions," said Davey. "You really need to pour canned beer into a glass to enjoy it, which isn't always possible at picnics, BBQs and so on. Moreover some people simply prefer to drink straight out of a bottle."

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