BrewDog: yet another hip company using 'rebel' language to sell its stuff

[ElizabethofYork]

No, good distribution.

Partly. But there'd be nowhere to distribute it without good marketing in the first place.

 

[two sheds]

Their big win was the UK market, pretty moribund at the time. I'm sure we all remember how drab the choice was for drinkers, both cask and keg. They were lucky, many brands tried and failed, and Tiny Rebel in Cardiff certainly seem highly influenced by the style if not the tone.

The fizzy beer market was moribund you mean? There's always that I remember been good dark-type beer around which is what I like. Not keen on the fizzy type.

 

[Spymaster]

No, good distribution.

In what way is BD’s distribution different to others that explains their runaway success?

 

[Spymaster]

Their big win was the UK market, pretty moribund at the time. I'm sure we all remember how drab the choice was for drinkers, both cask and keg.

The UK beer market hasn't been moribund since the 70s. In the 90s/2000s it was thriving with an enormous choice of cask and keg beers. The growth sector that BD seemed to ride was the "Craft Beer" uplift of the 2000s, where small breweries got into this hateful habit of over-fizzing and over-hopping their products and describing beer as "citrussy".

 

[chilango]

In what way is BD’s distribution different to others that explains their runaway success?

You could (and still can) buy it in any Tesco/the Co-Op etc. - unlike, say, Wild Weather or Double Barrelled.

This advantage has lessened over the years, Tesco for example now carries other brands more regularly. But it remains the case that BrewDog is still more widely available than many other "craft brewers".

 

[chilango]

Partly. But there'd be nowhere to distribute it without good marketing in the first place.

Marketing to who? Perhaps in terms of marketing to the big distributers? I dunno about that side of things. But if Punk was the only fizzy, hoppy, IPA on the shelf then it's marketing to the consumer looking for a fizzy, hoppy, IPA was largely irrelevant.

...but, of course, you could argue argue that BD's marketing grew that sector of consumer (and thus made them more attractive to the big distros). I wouldn't know about that, it's not of huge interest to me.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Marketing to who? Perhaps in terms of marketing to the big distributers? I dunno about that side of things. But if Punk was the only fizzy, hoppy, IPA on the shelf then it's marketing to the consumer looking for a fizzy, hoppy, IPA was largely irrelevant.

...but, of course, you could argue argue that BD's marketing grew that sector of consumer (and thus made them more attractive to the big distros). I wouldn't know about that, it's not of huge interest to me.

Business to Business marketing. To retailers, wholesalers, distributors.

 

[chilango]

Business to Business marketing. To retailers, wholesalers, distributors.

Fair enough. I wonder if they use(d) the same "edgy" strategy in those campaigns?

 

[Spymaster]

Fair enough. I wonder if they use(d) the same "edgy" strategy in those campaigns?

Are you suggesting that BD's consumer marketing has nothing to do with their success?

 

[belboid]

Which is all bollocks. Hoppy, fizzy, modern IPAs were around long before BrewDog. Punk IPA was always a pale imitation (geddit?) of the likes of Sierra Nevada.

I've actually got a diary entry from the Summer of 2000 when I first "discovered" this kind of beer. Stuck the label in and everything. By the time BD was founded the "craft beer revolution" was an international phenomenon. There were two bars on my street in Milan back then for example selling all kinds of "modern IPAs" (and modern stouts and more that BD didn't pick up till later).

They "invented" nothing.

BD's only advantage ever was that for a while they were easier to find in supermarkets and chain pubs.

Watt has a well rehearsed bit of patter that he was inspired by Sierra Nevada. He was just incapable of making it till Dickie learnt how whilst at thornbridge.

 

[dessiato]

This is an interesting article about Brew Dog marketing. I've not yet read all of it, only the first half, but it's very good from the point of view of marketing.

https://www.themarketingconcept.com/brewdog/

 

[Idaho]

Are you suggesting that BD's consumer marketing has nothing to do with their success?

Doesn't matter how well you market a beer. If it's not on the shelf at your local supermarket, it won't sell much.

 

[hitmouse]

beer drinkers who desire a quality beer with epistemic qualities

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Doesn't matter how well you market a beer. If it's not on the shelf at your local supermarket, it won't sell much.

If the product is not well marketed, the supermarkets won't be so keen to have it on their shelves.

 

[Teaboy]

If the product is not well marketed, the supermarkets won't be so keen to have it on their shelves.

You say that but the supermarkets are always full of bottles of white cider and super strength lager. When was the last time you saw an advert for Frosty Jacks or any other tramp fuel for that matter?

 

[ElizabethofYork]

You say that but the supermarkets are always full of bottles of white cider and super strength lager. When was the last time you saw an advert for Frosty Jacks or any other tramp fuel for that matter?

As consumers, we don't see the marketing that is done by the manufacturers to the retailers.

 

[DaphneM]

You say that but the supermarkets are always full of bottles of white cider and super strength lager. When was the last time you saw an advert for Frosty Jacks or any other tramp fuel for that matter?

quite interesting article on high strength cider

The killer on Britain’s streets – super-strength alcohol

Budget needs to help tackle death toll of country’s rough sleepers, say experts

www.theguardian.com

 

[Teaboy]

As consumers, we don't see the marketing that is done by the manufacturers to the retailers.

That's not really how FMCG works.

 

[chilango]

Are you suggesting that BD's consumer marketing has nothing to do with their success?

No. I make no claims on this beyond my own experience from within - I would assume - their initial target market.

 

[Spymaster]

Doesn't matter how well you market a beer. If it's not on the shelf at your local supermarket, it won't sell much.

This is arse about face though, isn't it?

Why would supermarkets stock a brand that they don't consider to be effectively marketed?

 

[Idaho]

This is arse about face though, isn't it?

Why would supermarkets stock a brand that they don't consider to be effectively marketed?

I take it you work in marketing?

 

[belboid]

They only really needed to do marketing to retailers to get it into the stores in the first place. After that it’s overwhelmingly down to sales. Given BDs strong brand recognition with the public I doubt they’d have even needed that much creativity in the first place.

 

[chilango]

It's also interesting to note that few other "craft brewers" seem to have copied BD's "genius marketing strategy" of being edgelord dickheads.

 

[Teaboy]

This is arse about face though, isn't it?

Why would supermarkets stock a brand that they don't consider to be effectively marketed?

Margin, willingness to assist in promotions, robustness of supply chain especially during promotional periods, they come along with several other lines which are useful to the supermarket etc. There are loads of reasons supermarkets stock certain products. How that product is marketed is only one of those.

There are shit load of real ales available in supermarkets which have tiny marketing budgets and what budget they have is little more than a bit of artwork for the label.

 

[Spymaster]

It's also interesting to note that few other "craft brewers" seem to have copied BD's "genius marketing strategy" of being edgelord dickheads.

Whilst few others (if any?) have achieved anywhere near their success.

 

[chilango]

...and for some reason Tesco et al. don't seem to have gone all in on reproducing BD's marketing/brand identity next to the product. Instead it's the quietly anonymous white cardboard boxes of Punk and Dead Pony that are prominent on their shelves.

 

[Spymaster]

Margin, willingness to assist in promotions, robustness of supply chain especially during promotional periods, they come along with several other lines which are useful to the supermarket etc. There are loads of reasons supermarkets stock certain products. How that product is marketed is only one of those.

There are shit load of real ales available in supermarkets which have tiny marketing budgets and what budget they have is little more than a bit of artwork for the label.

Do they shift as much product through those outlets as BD?

 

[chilango]

Whilst few others (if any?) have achieved anywhere near their success.

Depends upon what you mean by success I guess. If you simply mean profit (rather than, say, credibility or reputation or quality) then sure. But it seems not all brewers share that definition. Indeed, I was chatting to one brewer a couple of years back who steadfastly refused to expand his brewery beyond the ability to supply local pubs and selected shops because of the compromises that would entail.

 

[Teaboy]

Do they shift as much product through those outlets as BD?

The big brewers that have numerous different lines in their portfolio will. They will shift a lot more. The smaller brewers with one or two lines no, because they have less lines.

 

[Spymaster]

...and for some reason Tesco et al. don't seem to have gone all in on reproducing BD's marketing/brand identity next to the product. Instead it's the quietly anonymous white cardboard boxes of Punk and Dead Pony that are prominent on their shelves.

Supermarkets don't reproduce any corporate branding next to the products they sell, do they? Unless it's a special promotion they just stick the products on the shelves