CAMRA's announcement that there are now more than 1,000 brewers in the UK is good news for cask ale drinkers and welcome news for an industry reeling from pub closures during difficult economic times. Demand for cask ale, which accounts for around 16% of total beer sales, remains relatively buoyant against a background of declining beer sales overall. It's the increasing number of micro-brewers that accounts for the resurgence in the cask ale sector which generates around half a billion pounds in tax revenues.

With more beer available from more brewers, decisions about which beer to drink becomes even more difficult. The draught beer market as a whole is dominated by global giants who drive high levels of brand awareness through huge promotional spend and high profile advertising campaigns. This is not the case in the cask ale market where drinkers typically approach the bar with very little product or brand knowledge and the brands themselves typically have very low levels of brand awareness. CAMRA itself recognises this problem: "the only real problem cask ale faces is a lack of product knowledge and awareness."

So how do consumers make their cask ale choices at the bar? This is the subject of research undertaken by Tim Froggett, Senior Marketing Lecturer in our Ashcroft International Business School, which reveals an interesting array of decision making strategies.

Some consumers are highly involved in their product choice, have high levels of product knowledge, know what they like and will often ask the bar staff for a small taster of a number of beers before making their choice. With beer generally in excess of £3 a pint this is an effective strategy but requires considerable time and effort. Most drinkers prefer to rely on simplified decision making strategies requiring considerably less effort. Some will ask the bar staff for a recommendation, but with tastes and preferences being so personal this can often lead to disappointment with the product chosen. Other drinkers prefer consensus and will find out what is the popular choice. The positioning of the pump clip for some drinkers can be the main choice factor with the left most pump clip being favoured corresponding with the way we process visual information from left to right.

For many micro-brewers the pump clip is the only means of communicating with the consumer at point of purchase. It is a means of creating an identity for the brewer and the product, but most importantly, a means of grabbing the consumer's attention. Brewers use a range of creative approaches and styles: naughty words, erotic imagery, historical events, cultural or mythical figures and hop varieties can all feature in pump clip designs. More often than not there is a story for the brewer behind the pump clip design. With increasing choice in the cask ale sector, the important thing for brewers to remember is that a wide range of images compete for the consumer's attention at point of purchase: the pump clip should both attract attention and assist the consumer with their decision making.

To help drinkers make choices at the bar, Tim Froggett has used his research findings to develop a web based mobile app called AskCask which connects brewers and drinkers at point of purchase and has already been adopted by Peterborough based Oakham Ales. Based on QR codes in the pump clip design, brewers can use AskCask to send tasting notes, news and promotional offers direct to the drinker at point of purchase.