One of the ironic outcomes of Budweiser's Super Bowl ad mocking craft beers a few years ago was a spoof created and funded by a group of craft breweries. "Ironic" because in aiming to mock Budweiser's "Made the Hard Way" ad by showing the little guys' craft beer was unique and different, their video actually served up a near-perfect composite of what all craft beers share. In effect, they showed how craft beers are the same.

​Here's how craft beers are all alike, brought to you by the people who brew them...

In sameness, there is weakness

Like its big competitors, mega-brewer, Constellation Brands (Corona, Modelo Especial), opted to get into the craft-beer business by acquiring an already up-and-running small brewer. For a staggering $1 billion, Constellation got Ballast Point. The price included a host of standard craft-beer marketing assets: small, artisan brewery, well-regarded beers, interesting home town (San Diego), solid regional following, oddball brand names for its many beers (including EvenKeel Session, LongFin Lager, Fathom IPA, and the largest, Sculpin), a host of ingredients and recipes, and on and on. In other words, a lot of the same or similar stuff all the other craft beer brands also had going for them. The real challenge--made more urgent when Ballast Point's sales trend turned sour just after the purchase--was how to register distinctiveness in this sea of craft-beer  competitive sameness.

Choosing a strategy means eliminating many others

​There's a temptation that ensnares many a craft brewer, especially those who are new to marketing. These newbies are often so enamored of all that they do to make what they consider a special beer, that they try and tell their prospects the whole story. But as one old ad guy used to put it: "Telling' ain't sellin.'" The adage "less is more" was never better applied than in crafting marketing strategy.

Great marketers focus on uncovering the single key aspect of their product's distinctiveness that can win the greatest number of converts. Of course, no one such aspect will win over everyone, but diffusing the message to add multiple points of distinctiveness reduces, not increases, the odds of success. (See "less is more," above.) 

Simple. Straightforward. Distinctive. Effective. 

You can't ask much more from a selling strategy. Choosing among the literally hundreds of craft-beer brands cluttering retail shelves is daunting, even for the most geeky of beer geeks. Ballast Point just made the task easier for many of those beer shoppers, even as they made it more likely to result in more of those buyers choosing this new-to-Constellation brand. 

Craft-beer brands, take note: In an over-crowded category, smart marketing can be a competitive advantage.

Years ago, when the calendar page was turned to December, a sort of armistice was declared in the domestic beer wars. Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing--who together controlled well over half the market and fought each other viciously throughout the year—would adopt a gentler tone and use television commercials to send Christmas cards to their many drinkers.
 
These video cards were pretty, pleasant to watch, even touching. But too often, they were no more distinctive than the two identical Hallmark cards you received from two different neighbors. Budweiser's and Miller's cards both featured horses, jingle bells, holiday music, and snowy countryside scenes. Indeed, it's hard to tell which brewery sponsored which ad. And if an ad could've come from either beer brand, what was the point?

Advertising is all about selling. And selling means somehow cultivating the perception that your brand is a better choice than what the other guy's offering. If you can't come up with a difference in your brand's favor to celebrate, any money you spend on a generic message won't result in sales growth, and shouldn't even be called "advertising."

Sure, the holiday time of the year has most folks relaxing their sharp-elbowed approach to an often difficult world. So it's true that mixing a holiday greeting with any aspect of marketing competitive advantage requires a deft touch. Incorporating a product-distinctivenss message--like, say, citing one brewery's family ownership or another's Mexican origin--could come off as crass. Especially when when prospective customers are in a "goodwill towards all" mood.

Then again, with real creativity, a brewery's ad agency just might be able to pull off a clever blending of product distinctiveness and seasonal joy.

​Too difficult a challenge? Not for Heineken... 

And Corona has done it beautifully for years...

Sending Christmas cards certainly brightens the holidays.

And if you're a beer brand, adding just the right dash of product distinctiveness can add some jingle, too!