Speight's
From Free net encyclopedia
Speight's is a brewery in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is famous for its promotional branding based on being 'a real southern man' and being 'the pride of the south'.
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History
Speights was founded by James Speight, Charles Greenslade, and William Dawson. Speight's was first brewed on 4 April 1876 in Dunedin at the present Rattray St site. Since then the Speight's brand has been firmly planted in the deep south of New Zealand.
The Speight's brand was removed in August 1960 and replaced with the Lucky brand. However, the public response was less than favourable and the Speight's brand was brought back into production in October of that year.
Speight's distinctive label features three eight-pointed stars. These stars come from the original provincial arms of Otago.
Brands
Image:Speights.jpg Speight's Gold Medal Ale is the traditional beer of students at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Speight's is an ale style of beer, with a more distinctive taste than most commercial beers.
Traditionally a very regional brew, the wild popularity of the "Southern Man" series of advertisements has led to Speight's undergoing something of a boom and it can now be found throughout the country.
The Speight's brewery also makes Distinction Ale, Old Dark and Pale Ale, but none of these comes close to its Gold Medal Ale in popularity.
Marketing
Amoungst many marketing angles, the 'Southern man' campaign has been significantly popular and long running. One television ad featured the Cardrona Hotel, an idea which was later further developed when Speights opened a loose replica of this building in Mt Eden Auckland as a branded pub.
Speight's has used the slogan "Pride of the south" for many years.
Curious Facts
Since a fire destroyed the Dunedin bottling and canning plant (now the site of a department store) Speight's bottling plant (for its stubbies) is actually located in Auckland, New Zealand, a place that has been traditionally disliked by the majority of Speight's drinkers. The feeling is reciprocal, and a common claim of Aucklanders regarding the subject is "Drink Speight's, lose your mates."
Dunedin has a public bylaw that prevents the drinking of alcohol in the main streets of the city.
Beer drinking South Islanders south of the Waitaki River are often divided into two groups - "real southern men" that drink Speight's and people that drink DB beer. This stereotype is a fallacy, and several boutique beers such as Emersons are popular in the Otago region, and ber such as Tui are also popular, especially with students from Otago University. It is true, however, that there is a strong traditional association between beer-drinking in Dunedin and Speight's.
At the site of their Dunedin plant the company has installed a tap that pumps water up from a spring deep below the brewery, thus providing fresh, pure water free of charge. This tap was at the centre of an April Fool's joke one year when the company said that, just for that day, Speights beer would flow, free of charge, from that tap.