If you read my site and DON’T read what the fellows over at craftbeer.us are writing, make sure you go visit their site. Founded by a couple of industry insiders, they have a great perspective on marketing for breweries. A line in one of their recent articles really struck a chord with me, so I thought I’d mention it here. They were writing an about sponsorship events (specifically how NOT to execute them) and while the article holds up on its own quite well, it was the last line of it that I’d be interested in seeing an entire post dedicated to. Here it is:
Save the money (on a poorly executed sponsorship) 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.
I love this idea, and I’m sure there are some breweries out there doing this now, but why aren’t there more? By getting out and connecting with their consumers, they can create a unique experience for a few people each time. The costs and barriers to entry are relatively low (not many folks will turn down a free beer.) For casual beer drinkers who haven’t heard of the brewery or don’t feel like chatting with a random stranger, it will be a good introduction to the brand and in a low pressure environment.
However, breweries need to be careful in execution or else it will come across as a sales pitch. Too many bar goers are numb to brand reps or the ever-popular attractive woman at the bar secretly working for the vodka company. It has to be an honest, straight forward approach where the customer is not held hostage by the free drink while the salesperson makes his/her pitch. Instead, it should be understood that the customer can take the beer and choose to chat about it on their terms. Worst case, the brewery spends a few bucks on a beer, creates a little favorable exposure, and quickly parts ways with the customer. Best case, the brewery could create a new fan who talks about the free beer experience and the great chat they had with the brewery employee.
This strategy would probably fare better with newer, smaller breweries in and around their hometowns – the behemoths wouldn’t benefit as much. Additionally, smaller breweries could have their brew masters or founders out talking to the people. While it might be interesting to talk to Joe Schmoe from the marketing or sales department of one of the larger breweries, talking to the person who brews the beer at one of the smaller breweries would be a much more authentic interaction.
Have you ever had an interaction with a brewery rep (or any alcohol representative) at a bar, restaurant, or liquor store before? If so, tell me what it was like in the comments.
I agree that could be a really effective way of introducing a brand over time, but it’s important to also note that event sponsorship can 1) be better executed than the red-cup-and-banner event the article referenced and 2) have benefits aside from introducing a beer.
I’ve worked in nonprofit a bit, and sponsoring a charitable event can introduce a craft brewery to a new market that often not only doesn’t know about their product, but is interested in a community and has enough money to afford the beer. Also, there’s the tax deduction and the good feelings of supporting an organization doing good work.
Of course, even at those events, craft breweries (notoriously understaffed and overworked as they are) almost never send a rep with the beer, and so a lot of potential customer appeal and contact is lost. But then again, I wonder how many craft breweries really have a struggle generating demand. My anecdotal view is that the real challenge is cash flow to MEET demand.
Greg, thanks for your insight. I agree 100% with you that event sponsorship can be an excellent tactic and has numerous benefits other than product introduction, however, spending money on poorly executed events (as discussed in the craftbeer.us article) is simply wasteful. To your other point regarding cash flow, through my discussions with breweries you nailed this.