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...
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.)
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.)
The Constellation marketing folks decided to claim an important beer-category benefit for Ballast Point, namely superior taste. But to achieve distinctiveness they chose to highlight a single, key product fact: Their Sculpin brand achieved a 97% rating from beer drinkers by way of Beer Advocate. The advertising folks then supplied real creativity to convey this point with a disarming bit of self-effacing, low-key selling: "We're not perfect, but close."
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.
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.
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