| Vince Capano is a two time winner of the prestigious Quill and Tankard writing award for humor from the North American Guild of Beer Writers. Vince's column is now a regular feature of beernexus.com Check back often for the next installment of Vince's Adventures in Beerland |
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| Promo Guy Taps Out by Vince Capano Even mighty beer is staggering. Once considered recession proof, beer has now joined a host of other products feeling the pinch of the consumers’ shirking dollar. In the past 6 months overall sales of beer have dropped substantially relative to wine and liquor sales. Now if you are a regular BeerNexus reader you’re probably thinking that serves the Buds, Coors, and Millers of the world right. If they made good beer instead of watery adjunct laden swill they wouldn’t have these problems. Well, you’re right and wrong. You’re right because just released statistics show that craft beer sales are still growing in market share. And you’re wrong because that growth has dramatically slowed. Given this harsh reality it’s no surprise that many breweries have re-emphasized promotion. And therein lays my tale of the dueling promos. It was a dark and stormy night (not really, but its fun to write something goofy just to make my editor cringe) at The Tap Room in Warren, NJ. However this was not just another Friday; it was a promo night for Franziskaner Weissbier. It seems that even this world famous brew from Spaten-Franziskaner, a brewery in Munich that dates back to the 14th century, felt the need to kick up sales. With a heritage like that who wouldn’t expect the evening to be the mother of all promo nights. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one at the bar who lamented not bringing several large shopping bags for the glasses, t-shirts, and other such swag that we would surely receive. Sadly, those worries were about as valid as wondering how I’d spend the $100 million I was going to win in the lottery. The Tap Room had been appropriately decorated with Franziskaner and Spaten banners. The Spaten ones featured a malt shovel which makes sense since Spaten in German means spade. The Franziskaner banners boasted a portly monk, again a logical choice since the word itself means Fransiscan, as in the religious order. If only their promo plans were as well thought out as their company’s logos. The first tipoff that the evening would be more Frankenstein than Franziskaner came when the brewery’s representative casually strolled in an hour and a half after the scheduled starting time. Now that’s certainly excusable if he had flown in directly from Germany but not good considering he lives in the neighboring town. To his credit, promo guy immediately went into action mode – he found a seat at the bar and ordered a beer. As the clocked ticked on those awaiting the festivities began to get ticked off. Just as promo guy was finishing his second pint he noticed two attractive ladies in the far corner drinking Franziskaner. It’s understandable that it took awhile for him to see them since his vision was definitely obscured by the dozen or so others at the bar also drinking Franziskaner. In an instant he had joined the ladies pitching his siren call of Bavaria beer; the promo has begun. Well to be accurate, the promo had begun only for those (un)lucky two; the other Franziskaner drinkers in the main bar, the outer lounge, the terrace area, and within a 1,000 miles radius were totally invisible to promo guy. Needless to say it was a bit satisfying to see promo guy get the classic brush off from his female prey; his fate reaffirmed the truism that a promo guy becomes a no-no guy if he doesn’t have any swag. Sorry, no free glasses, no t-shirts, no posters, no beer mats, no anything for the ladies or anyone else. Of course most of those answered with their own no – as in no Franziskaner. Sadly, bad marketing had trumped good beer. However in less than 24 hours my faith in the beer business was restored when I saw good marketing promote good beer in a grass roots way. The place was the Copper Mine, a relatively new pub in North Arlington, NJ. As I sat there on a lazy Saturday afternoon a slender, bearded gentleman walked in and introduced himself to the Copper Mine’s bartender as Brian Boak from, what else, the Boaks Brewery. It seems that Mr. Boak is founder, president, treasurer, brewer, salesman, distributor, and delivery truck driver, for his micro brewery. He should give himself a raise. Mr. Boak was there to deliver the Cooper Mine’s first order of Boaks beer but decided to first stop in at the bar to have a pint. Something tells me this is one guy who really enjoys his chosen career. As he sat down, Mr. Boak quietly put several bottles of his beer on the bar and asked the bartender to have the patrons sample them. Just like that, a simple delivery had been transformed into a promo that the poor monks at Franziskaner could only have prayed for. Yes, a non- promo by a one man outfit had, with one simple act, bested a professional promo from a beer giant; it sounded like the plot of the next Rocky movie or at the very least, Beer Wars II. We sampled Boaks Double BW, a Belgium wheat with a touch of lemongrass. It was a refreshing, low alcohol brew with a lemon zip that made it perfect on this hot summer day. The other beer was Boaks Two Blink Monks, a Belgian Dubbel loaded with rich malt, caramel, and raisin flavors. Mr. Boak told us a bit about each beer, explained his brewing layout, and as a good businessman, made sure we knew the retail outlets where we could buy his beer in bottles. I promised myself to immediately (not literally, after all, I was at a pub) buy as much as I could carry of the Two Blind Monks, an instant favorite. One note on the Two Blind Monks, moderation is advised since drinking too many of that strong brew would mean the monks wouldn’t be the only ones who are blind. Mr. Boak said his goodbyes to all and went on with his delivery most likely not seeing anything special in his short visit at the bar. But there he is mistaken. Just as Pabst Blue Ribbon beer parlayed a grass roots marketing campaign into cult status, Mr. Boak was doing the same only one beer drinker at a time. It’s a strategy that bespeaks the best of American entrepreneurship. A bit later I took a quick poll of the bar. Out of the seven people there six said they’ d buy Boaks beer when they saw it on tap and four of the six said they would seek it out in the liquor stores. Now that’s one successful promotion. And for the record, no one said they’d rather have a Franziskaner. |
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| Promo Guy Taps Out by Vince Capano |