Ashleigh Amos – Head of Brand Experience at Camden Town Brewery – on creating the firm’s new Marmite beer

Marmite is moving into beer, courtesy of a limited edition collaboration with Camden Town Brewery.

We caught up with Ashleigh Amos, Head of Brand Experience at Camden Town Brewery, to find out more about the development of the Camden Marmite Ale – and learn more about the firm’s ambitions when it comes to future brand partnerships.

Hi Ashleigh – great to connect. Camden Town Brewery has a really strong brand aesthetic, but for anyone new to you guys, how would you describe what you do?
Creativity and design have always been at the heart of the Camden brand and something that’s incredibly important to us.

Every year we work with a seasonal illustrator to help create beautiful designs for our limited-edition beers, trade assets and on-pack promotions. This year we’re working with the talented Jasmin Sehra, and in the past we’ve also worked with Gaurab Thakali and Bodil Jane to name a few.

In fact, brand design was one of the reasons we were so excited to work with Marmite. They have such a distinctive style, and we felt like their iconic black and yellow brand colours aligned perfectly with our black and red colour scheme.

Yes, it certainly catches the eye. How did this Marmite partnership come about? And what made you confident the brand would be a good fit for beer?
Marmite has always been a brand we’ve admired, being one of the most iconic, and divisive, across the UK. We’re also all lovers ourselves at the Camden Beer Team, so when the opportunity came about, we leapt at the chance of creating a beer dedicated to all the lovers out there.

Marmite and Camden’s brand voices are both fun and playful, and we felt like our brands visually looked great together. What’s more, Marmite is literally made as a by-product of the beer brewing process, so there was something kind of ‘meta’ about adding Marmite back into the beer to create our new limited-edition Marmite Ale.

Of course! I hadn’t thought about the brand’s own history with beer; smart! Now in terms of the development process, how did you ensure the beer felt authentically Marmite?
We worked really closely with the Marmite team throughout the brewing process – the last thing we wanted to do was create a Marmite beer that didn’t even taste of Marmite… So, we added real Marmite to make sure that yeast-y flavour was punchy enough for all our Marmite – and beer – lovers!

That being said, we also made sure this beer is true to the Camden brand and something we’re proud of from a brewing perspective. Just like all of our beers, our Camden Marmite Ale is never pasteurised, and our brewing team had a lot of fun creating the perfect malty, yeasty, smoky blend that encapsulates Marmite’s iconic, and controversial, flavour.

As well as Marmite, you’ve previously launched brand collabs with Arsenal and the Courteeners. Should more brand owners be looking at doing collabs in the beer space? And are these kinds of brand partnerships something that Camden Town Brewery is looking to do more of in future?
Brand collaborations are a really fun thing to do and something we’ll definitely be looking to do more of in the future. Not only do they build awareness of our own Camden brand, collaborations also challenge our beer team to always come up with new, fresh and innovative creations.

We’ve worked with MOJU in the past on a delicious radler called Ride On, and we also do a number of restaurant partnerships creating exclusive beers, including Wagamamas, Hoppers and Homeslice.

Camden Town Brewery is also a nationwide brand, despite originating from London, so doing collaborations with big household brands helps us to increase brand awareness and encourage national trial.

If there are any brands reading this that would be interested in teaming up, what sort of brands appeal to you guys? And how should brand owners reach out to connect?
We’d be open to hearing about collaborations from all kinds of brands across the FMCG and lifestyle space. There’s so much potential for fun and unusual beer creations, and we’re always keen to hear about new ideas!

We’d also be interested in exploring collaborations outside of beer, whether that’s new merch or foodie projects – beer-flavoured ice cream anyone? If any brands are reading this, definitely drop us a message on Instagram and we’ll be in touch.

Beer ice cream – I’m in! Huge thanks for making time for this Ashleigh, let’s speak again soon!