Hofmeister’s ‘George the Bear’ makes a ‘sophisticated’ comeback

Hofmeister has revealed its mascot ‘George the Bear’ will be making a comeback for the beer brand, but as a “classier, sophisticated version”.

‘George the Bear’ who helped the brand become one of the top selling beers of the 1980s and early 1990s alongside the catchline “for great lager, follow the bear” is set to return as a “grown up, classier, sophisticated” bear compared “his former ‘geezer’” version, the company has stated.

Richard Longhurst and Spencer Chambers, who bought the rights to the brand from Heineken and re-created it as an authentic Bavarian-brewed Helles lager made to the German beer purity law that dates back to 1516, explained that because the new premium Bavarian version of Hofmeister is a far cry from the mass produced brand that was formerly brewed in England, they have decided to bring back George, but show how he too, like Hofmeister, has grown up to become “discerning” and like “the good things in life”.

Consumers travelling through Piccadilly Circus this week will be able to see the new look George on billboards sporting the fresh tagline: “I’m back. For classier beer, follow the bear.”

Nick Gill, who worked on the original George the Bear campaign, has been part of the team responsible for creating a new mature George for the 2020s, and said: “I was around at the birth of George at Hofmeister at a time when beer advertising was hugely popular, in the days before social media when everyone was talking about it in the office”.

Gill admitted that when he got the call from Hofmeister “it was like a voice from the past and it took about three seconds to say ‘yes’,” and highlighted how he had “no hesitation in bringing back George” because he was “a loved icon”.

Speaking about bringing back the original mascot, Hofmeister co-founder, Spencer Chambers, noted how “he’s always been the elephant in the room for us and at some point we were always going to have to take that on” and admitted that “the challenge was how we brought him back. Now he’s back we hope he can help us take Hofmeister from being a new, challenger brand to being the UK’s most loved premium world beer”.

Chambers also indicated that he had wanted to add a bit of “personality” back into the premium beer category because it was that personality that “made the beer category such an exciting and vibrant place to be in the late 1980s” and so this move is, in many senses, a way “to bring that sense of fun and innovation back” and admitted that there was noone better than a “grown up, classier George the Bear himself”.

Gill also highlighted how things have moved on for the brand and for advertising in beer, but that it was important to still crystalise why the original mascot character was so popular – because he made people smile – he explained: “He was a product of the 1980s and the ‘laddism’ of the time but values have changed and we could not bring back George like he was. The beer has also changed beyond recognition and is a fantastic product, so surely George had become classier as well. We needed to make the humour a bit more sophisticated and make him look incredible as well” and added: “The world needs a smile right now.”

The Piccadilly Circus advertising will run all week until Easter Sunday and will see George the Bear take over the complete hoarding for 40 seconds every hour and hopes to attract over 3 million views in total.

Following the success of a crowdfunding campaign in 2021, that saw the Hofmeister brand raise over £2 million from a target of £600k, Hofmeister is also this week going live with its second Seedrs campaign as it looks to raise money to help drive sales, widen distribution and be able to promote its beers with George the Bear and wider campaign marketing activity.