Making connections with consumers is vital in promoting brand awareness. Breweries across the country look to tap into regionality in different ways, conjuring campaigns that are suited to the lifestyle and focus that perhaps only that region may have.
It helps connect consumers into what new products are available or an entire culture of the brewery.
“Consumers … want an emotional connection to the brand and their beers,” explained Crazy Mountain’s director of marketing Greg Neale and CMO Marisa Selvy in an email to Brewer. “Having not just information about the beer, but stories with interesting characters and anecdotes, gives them a sort of cultural currency to share with their friends and fellow beer lovers. They get to be the storyteller, and by extension they become ambassadors of our brand.”
For Crazy Mountain, that connection came from a rebranding effort that led to the creation of its “Crazy Creatures” which are on each individual brand and touch point possible.
“They now live in the digital world — on our website and in social media, and are featured in print campaigns, point of sale support, event displays, merch elements and of course in our Tap Rooms as well,” Neale and Selvy said.
SanTan Brewing’s objective was to build awareness throughout the state of Arizona about where the brewery’s and consumer’s water came from. Bringing that education of the importance of a healthy watershed came to the forefront, spawning the “Tap to Top” program.
The campaign reached through various media including print, video, social media, and retails which included a text to win campaign; donations made to the Northern Arizona Forest Fund by purchasing SanTan beer and even friendly competitions at restaurants and bars that carried the beer to see who could raise the most money for the Forest Fund. It also reached to the off-premise retailers with end cap displays that presented info and messaging about the program as well as info on how consumers could help.
“For us, it was amazing to see the response from people when we put the National Forest, our water supply and our beer in the same scenario,” said SanTan’s Meg Hebert. “Seeing the light bulbs go off was such a joy for us. Who doesn’t want to drink beer and help save the forest?”
Herbert said SanTan is in the process of working with the National Forest Foundation to continue this education and raising funds for the Northern Arizona Forest Fund in 2017.
Third Street Brewhouse capitalized on a successful campaign for its new fall seasonal recently when it introduced “Oktoberfest” Session Marzen to its lineup.
The Minnesota-based brewery used social media and national media exposure to further the brand, including targeted Facebook marketing along with samplings and radio advertising.
“Social media is a big part of our daily lives and it’s a great tool to utilize in reaching our customer base, where other avenues of advertising may be missed,” said Third Street taproom manager Maranda Theisen.
She added that the campaign was very well received – selling out product at many of the local liquor stores.
“The campaign showed us that consumers like approachable beer and we feel Oktoberfest was a great example of that,” Theisen said “It also showed us that we could reach our consumers faster and get immediate feedback.”
Also, in preparing for the launch of our Third Street submitted the beer to a blind-tasting by Paste Magazine, which was looking for the best Oktoberfest/Marzen-style beers. Third Street ended up taking the the second spot out of 55 ranked second behind Germany’s Ayinger.
“In addition to the posts we were already boosting on Facebook surrounding the release, we were able to add this top honor mention to the campaign, which ended up being a very successful marketing opportunity for us,” Theisen said.
Photo courtesy Tonic Photo Studios
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