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.
He had this HD show called Three Sheets (it’s a travel show about the World’s drinking customs) on the MOJO HD station until it shut down a while back and he’s been shopping it to various networks ever since. Zane posted on his website last week that the Travel Channel has picked up Three Sheets and will consider paying for Zane and his gang to film a 5th season if there’s high viewership on the re-runs.
How does this relate to craft beer marketing? Zane tapped the fantastic Maui Brewing Co. to be the beer supplier for this unique and fun promotion. I met Zane at GABF in 2008 and he’s a really wonderful guy, not to mention a very appealing advocate/spokesmodel for brands looking to expand. Maui now gets to be the center of attention for more than 36,000 fans of Zane on Facebook and 16,000+ followers on Twitter.
Here’s what Zane had to say about his partnership with Maui Brewing:
I met Garrett Marrero from Maui Brewing Co. when we shot the “Three Sheets: Hawaii” episode. I became an immediate fan of their beers and their contributions to the craft beer scene. Their CoCoNuT PorTer kicks ass! I want to thank the fans for their continued support through the various networks that “Three Sheets” has been on, Maui Brewing Co. for helping me get great beer from Hawaii to Maryland, and to Travel Channel for putting the show on the network it’s belonged on from the beginning! Finally! Cheers!
Another great thing about Zane is that he is in the middle of a national comedy tour. If you like to laugh and like to drink (who the fuck doesn’t like those things?), look for him coming to a town near you!
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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