SABMiller might be famous for brewing some of the world’s favourite beer brands, but it is also becoming known for its award-winning, content-led website.
CPL played a major role in reworking and writing much of the content for SABMiller.com when it was relaunched in 2014 and we have gone on to provide a regular flow of stories for the site since then.
With a vibrant design to complement its story-led approach, the site has attracted more than 850,000 visitors in the past year, many of whom have been drawn there because of AB InBev’s offer to buy SABMiller and thus create one of the world’s largest FMCG businesses.
The site, designed and developed by MSLGroup, won in the Best Corporate Website categories in both the 2015 CorpComms Awards and Digital Impact Awards and it came 10th in the annual Bowen Craggs/FT Index for corporate web effectiveness.
Bowen Craggs’ David Bowen, a hugely respected online commentator, has described it as being “in some ways, the best corporate website in the world”. He added: “It takes the idea that your site is your biggest publication and runs with it with energy and style. The pictures, the headlines, here is a cracking online magazine about beer and its industry, which also happens to tell you a lot about the company.”
The objective behind the site is simple: to position SABMiller as the expert voice in the industry. Working with contacts from across SABMiller, CPL journalists create and publish stories about famous SABMiller beer brands including Pilsner Urquell, Peroni, Castle Lager and Grolsch – and a whole host of others that are loved by consumers within the company’s 70-plus global markets.
We take the view that most readers will be beer lovers, so there are plenty of general, human interest stories too. These range from topics such as matching beer with chocolate, becoming a beer barista and the lowdown on beer festivals around the world.
SABMiller places particular emphasis on its sustainable development strategy, called Prosper. A notable feature of the site is the way in which this strategy is brought to life through stories about the communities and individuals that benefit from Prosper.
“Storytelling can be an overused term in corporate circles,” says CPL managing director Mike Sewell. “But it is exactly what we do for this site. It’s a great brief. We’re not asked to write thinly-disguised press releases or unsubtle top-down messages – we’re telling stories about SABMiller’s business that play a part in helping it achieve its aim to be the world’s most admired beverage company.”
Simon Thresh, who leads on digital strategy for SABMiller’s corporate affairs team, is proud of the impact the site has had. “Corporate websites can be pretty dull affairs. With SABMiller.com we’ve really tried to incorporate a more engaging style, more often associated with consumer-facing communications. We wanted to give visitors an insight both into our business, and to beer as a category.. Our aim was always to have storytelling front and centre, and the CPL team have done a great job in helping us achieve that. According to survey data, more than two-thirds of visitors to the site leave with an improved impression of the business, and much of this has to be down to the depth and quality of the stories themselves.”
As well as our work on SABMiller.com, CPL also delivers a range of other digital content for the brewer. This includes helping run The Source, an award-winning internal content hub for the company’s top 7,000 leaders worldwide.
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