Did I just see a Sam Adams commercial promoting the use of brown bottles? Yes, I did and here it is: (click here if not showing up in your reader)

I’ve been a big fan of the Sam Adams commercials ever since they dropped that awful campaign where Sam Adams was spying on conversations in bars in restaurants.  Jim Koch and has done a great job of promoting his brand and the Craft Beer segment in general by communicating their passion for beer.

But this might be pushing it.  Brown bottles?  The use of brown bottles doesn’t differentiate Sam Adams from any other Craft Beer brands.  Or most other beer brands in general!

The result? I think it undermines the other spots.  Consumers are smart and will say, “Brown bottles? So what?” and have less interest in the other commercials.

Jim – call your agency and pull this commercial ASAP.  There are too many other great things to say about your beer and brand before you have to resort this stuff.  And if you need ideas, contact us – we would be happy to help.

Most craft brewers send out an email newsletter.  Craftbeer.us subscribes to quite a few of them and reads some of them – but we’re wondering if we’re the only ones.  Please take our poll below and let us know if/how you use them.  We’ll report the results in a week.

I was in an unnamed city last night and went to a “open-mic-style” show that was sponsored by an unnamed craft brewer.  I have been to this show, which happens once a month a few times now and it’s been sponsored by the same craft brewer every time.  And unfortunately, executed the same way every time.

The Good:

• Complimentary beer with the $5 admission/donation.  Ok, good sampling opportunity.
• The brand was mentioned once during the show.  Nice plug.
• There was a banner.

Now, the Bad:

• All of the beer was served in the classic red “keg cup”.  No branding.
• When you walk up to the counter to get a beer, they ask if you want “light or dark”.  No style mentioned and I’m pretty sure that’s not how the brands are represented at retail.
• Needless to say, there wasn’t any description or conversation about the beer happening anywhere at the event.
• There was a banner – but it was in the back of the room (behind the audience) and on the other side of the room from where the beer was being served.

Craft brewers, or even marketing people in general, this is exactly how NOT to execute an event you sponsor.  No one had any idea of what they were drinking.  MAYBE they knew what brand.  MAYBE.  But if they did, they certainly didn’t know what style.  How can you expect someone to go buy your beer after trying it if they don’t know and remember the style?  The result was that everyone was just happy to have “beer” and no one cared what brand or style.

I acknowledge that many craft brewers don’t have the bandwidth or capacity to execute all of these events to perfection.  But instead of knowingly throw a couple keg to an event that won’t be executed – just don’t do it.  Save the money and go buy some consumers a beer at a bar where they will actually know who bought it for them and what they’re drinking.

Widmer is also in the small group of craft brewers who advertise on TV.  Widmer is pretty aggressive with advertising altogether.  Along with TV, they have been running Outdoor and Print for at least a few years now.

Here’s their most recent as.  A whopping 132 views on YouTube at the time of this blogpost.

We always find it interesting when Craft Beer brands advertise on TV.  A few weeks back we mentioned that Blue Moon is running some TV ads.  Now, we’ve found that Bridgeport Brewing is running TV in Portland and Seattle.  It’s basically the same spot with different b-roll to localize it.

Here’s the Portland spot:

And here’s the Seattle spot:

TV is expensive.  We gotta wonder if a TV campaign is the right fit from an ROI and branding perspective.  ROI because sales will have to see a significant acceleration for the campaign to be justified.  Branding because no matter how you do TV, it always feels corporate and that’s exactly what craft beer shouldn’t be.

Of course, Bridgeport Brewing is owned by the Gambrinus Company, who used to have Corona’s distribution rights for half the country – and they have historically leaned toward mass marketing.  They also own Shiner and have had pretty good success with that – so maybe they know what they’re doing.

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We found this video ad for Great Divide beer on The Denver Egotist and it’s a little curious.

• Why would Great Divide produce a retro-style video ad?
• Why would Great Divide drop money on video?
• Why did they change the logo?
• Is it all in the name of kitsch?
• Why is the video posted under the Moonship Media YouTube account?

But then if you look a little closer, the comments on The Denver Egotist blog post say that Great Divide didn’t have anything to do with this.

• So did a local agency just do this for their reel?
• Did Great Divide have any creative input into it?
• Why does it have the Great Divide legal line?

What the hell is going on here?

Over the course of the last 5-7 years, Blue Moon has been one of the most amazing stories in Craft Beer – maybe even in the entire Consumer Package Goods industry.  Not only has Blue Moon been able to convince consumers that it is a real craft beer, when it is actually owned by Coors, but they have also been able to build the brand almost solely through word-of-mouth.  The ritual of bartenders adding an Orange slice has proven to be extremely viral.  Not only did it look refreshing, but it also gave consumers a chance to “customize” their beer and recommend it to others.

But Blue Moon is growing up now.  Now that the brand is 15 years old now (yes, the brand was launched in 1995) it might be time to take it out to a wider audience.  To do this, Blue Moon has recently launched a TV advertising campaign that continues their “Artfully Crafted” theme they activated through other mass mediums (print, transit boards, etc) a few years ago.

But here’s the big question:

Will mass media diminish the brand’s mystique? Blue Moon was built through consumer discovery.  Now the brand is controlling the message and in the process could disrupt everything they have built over the course of 15 years.  And does Blue Moon really need TV anyway?  Will the increase in sales (and departure from what built the brand) be enough to justify the spend?

My assumptions for their rationale are:

a) they think they have maxed out the potential of the current customer base and are trying to grow the business by introducing a new group of consumers

b) they believe the current Blue Moon consumer is losing interest in the brand and is straying too far towards other craft beer brands.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re intimately familiar with Blue Moon and might have written off the brand years ago because it wasn’t a “true” craft beer.  But how do you think the mainstream consumers will react?  Will this help take the brand to the next level or will it stymie the brand’s growth?

Web 2.0/social media has been on the scene for 3-5 years now, depending on who you ask.  Some of the first companies to embrace social media and integrate it in to their marketing plans were craft brewers.

Why is that?  Two reasons:

1. It’s cheap! It levels the playing field with the big guys in a way that paid media never will.  Create the content and they will come.  Craft brands may have the cash to buy a TV spot or a billboard can have just as many views, followers or fans as the big guys.
2. Consumers want to be brewers! Craft beer consumers have major man-crushes on craft brewers so the content doesn’t have to be all that great.  Just show them what’s its like to be you and voila! You’ve got social media!

Or, maybe it’s not that easy.  Upon further review, the videos craft brewers are publishing on the internet aren’t quite gaining the attention of a large audience.  A couple examples:

Stone Brewery produces a ton of video content, mostly via their head guy Greg Koch.  They’ve documented trips to Europe searching for great craft beers, they’ve documented beer and food pairing events and a lot more.  The content is decent; it’s professionally edited and Greg is a great host, but the number of views is really low.  According to YouTube, the most views they’ve had on one video is about 2500.  Of course this doesn’t count other video platforms like Vimeo or blip, but still – it seems like there should be more for it to be worth the investment of time and expenses.

To his credit, Greg was the creative force behind one of the great rally cries of the craft brewing industry, the I am a Craft Brewer video that was originally shown during his keynote speech at the Craft Brewer’s Conference in Boston in 2009.  I love this video, but as good as it is, it has less than 15,000 views on YouTube.  Maybe it’s just not possible for craft brewers to create that magical viral video.  Maybe they don’t want to.

New Belgium Brewery also produces a lot of content and some of their videos have seen a certain degree of success.  New Belgium found the viral video magic with their I’m on a Bike spoof (30,000) views and coverage of their Tour de Fat events (25,000 views).  They still have at least a dozen videos that have less than 2000 views, but they seem to be on to something with adding in a higher level of entertainment to their content.  We’ll see how far ironic rap videos can take them as they’ve gone back to the hip-hop well again for the release of their new Ranger IPA.

To defend the craft brewers, It’s easy for them to believe that an inside look at what happens behind the scenes at the brewery would be interesting to craft beer consumers across the country and have the potential to go viral.  Reality TV shows have taken over the airwaves and all it takes is video camera, some editing skills and good content and wham-o: you got a viral video campaign that engages consumers. It makes total sense.  At least it did to me when I worked in the craft beer segment.

In the end, it’s not all about the number of views – it’s all about consumer engagement.  If the videos are meaningful to a small number of people who are out preaching their love for a brand that is strengthened by way of videos, blogs or Twitter feeds, then there is value in the projects.  But in the end, it’s all about increasing sales, not feeding egos.  Given the results I have access to, I have to question whether all of these social media efforts are delivering sufficient return on investment.

We came across a new beer blog – TheBusinessOfBeer.com and their recent piece on contract brewing.  The do a nice job of breaking down the pros and cons of a brewery contracting production out to another brewery.  Unless you’re a brewery insider yourself, it happens more than you think.

They do a great job of dissecting this from a business perspective, so we’ll look at it more from a marketing point of view.  So why do people prefer beer that is brewed close to them?  People don’t seem to care whether potato chips or granola bars are produced close to them.  What’s different about beer?

There are two primary differences:

1. Local breweries have a long history in American culture.  50 years ago, almost every major city and many small to medium-sized cities had their own brewery.  The brewery was part of that town’s personality.  The people who worked at the brewery played a vital role in the community.  Since that time, the major brewers have consolidated balance sheets and production.  For a time, that meant fewer breweries and more reliance on mass-marketing.  Craft Beer has changed all of that.  Now, a town of any size can stake claim to a brewery.

2. It still comes down to authenticity.  Beer is a very personal product.  It’s more than just taste, it’s a badge.  Whether you are bringing a 6-pack to a BBQ or ordering a pint at the pub, there is a honor that comes with ordering the brand and flavor you prefer.  Part of that honor is supporting your local economy or your friend who played a role in brewing or delivering that beer.  Having worked on both craft and macro-domestic beers, I’ve heard consumers repeatedly mention how important it is to have a personal relationship with their preferred beer brand.

So, to answer the headline’s question: yes, it DOES matter where you beer comes from.  But keep in mind that “where it comes from” means more than a production facility.  It comes from a brewery AND people.