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Stella Artois is a quality Belgian beer, brewed in the traditional pilsner style. Britons call it "lager" and absolutely love the stuff, sometimes to excess. To the Brits, it is marketed as "Reassuringly Expensive." In fact, throughout the world, Stella Artois is positioned in the premium category and well known for sponsoring the Queen's Tennis Championship, which immediately precedes the British Open at Wimbledon. Interestingly, Stella, as the Belgians affectionately call it, is seen as rather mundane at home and can often be found on the dinner table. Its lower price in Belgium explains why visiting Brits are often seen strapping cases to the roofs of their cars for the ferry ride home.
Upon visiting Stella Artois' website, the viewer is immediately drawn onscreen to the logo, which wears the brand's basic colors of red and white. Set on an understated grey canvas, the site relies extensively on Flash animation to set the tone. The menus, text, color accents, and pictures are soberly animated in a way that emphasizes the brand's upscale positioning. Stella, the design identity suggests, is classy.
Although Stella Artois is only one of the flagships of InBev -- the corporate name born from the merger of Interbrew and Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (AmBev) -- the website combines features of online brochure and corporate portal, such as career information.
The main menu floats in the middle of the screen, allowing the viewer to return to it at any time during the navigation process. Theoretically it's a clever approach to the business of "crumbs" (the directory build that allows a user to find his way back online), but practically it proves to be cumbersome and annoying. It is unfortunate that there should be such a boringly-designed menu front and center, when it would be better relegated to a discreet top bar. Nevertheless, the content of the site and the animation technology work well together and are generally good enhancements to the brand overall.
Well known for its clever ad campaigns, Stella Artois allows viewers to access fifteen years of television ads against its signature soundtrack (which is based on Verdi's "La Forza del Destino"). Many among these story-telling commercials are now part of the target market's collective consciousness. As such, it is surprising that the company misses the opportunity to offer the familiar tune as introductory background music throughout the site (not just in the advertising section).
Overall, Stella Artois puts on an impressive show but probably tries to overdo it. The technology distracts from the excellent content and graphic design. As it is, the viewer is too conscious of the technology involved and loses sight of the actual brand.
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