Gen Z consumers care less about who you are, and more about what you do. And any form of inauthenticity or surface-level activism will be called out immediately, the second round of Brew Talks panelists agreed.
The panel — Crown and Hops co-founder Teo Hunter, New Belgium Brewing senior marketing manager Dave Knospe, and COOP Ale Works marketing director Mary Ann Caram — discussed which marketing strategies do and do not work with the newest generation of drinkers during the meet-up in Denver during that Craft Brewers Conference.
“That’s one of the beautiful things about Gen Z and younger Millennials is if you overstep, you’re gonna find out really quickly,” Knospe said. “There’s no mystery like there may have been in years past.
“The age of being a mega-polluter and running a little trash pickup campaign and running an ad about it and everyone feeling good: those days are over,” he continued. “If what you do isn’t who you are, then you’re inauthentic and you can see through that in a heartbeat. If you grew up with all your information in your pocket like these digital natives of people … they have access to all of the information, so if you’re trying to do something that is not who you are, you’re going to be called out in an instant.”
Authenticity is particularly important when trying to draw in the more ethnically diverse young consumer base that craft has long-struggled to bring into the community.
“We’ve always been an amplification of the community that we represent in its truest, most authentic form. It was absolutely missing in craft beer,” said Hunter, whose Inglewood, California brewery is one of the 1% of craft breweries that are Black-owned.
“Stop looking at the Black community as a monolithic community, there are Black people that love to ride bikes, they love to hike, that love to surf. You don’t need to pander just to be true,” he added. “I think one of the things that a lot of people get stuck in is how do I market this brand, rather than focus on the core of who they are. If you truly want change and you truly want something different then you need to invite change and different to the table.”
To do this, Knospe said companies also need to look within, and hire local workers and community boards.
“Don’t look at other communities as a way to sell more of your beer. Think of ways that help support those communities,” he said.
Hunter also cautioned brewers to avoid cultural appropriation.
“Using cultural monikers and phrases and culture without any attribute or any invitation to the community from where it was derived is wrong,” he said.
The craft brewing industry may also need to rethink how it markets itself as a community, according to Caram, who likened the industry to her previous work in luxury watches: potentially “snobby” and exclusive.
“We can bring new people into the fold with the understanding that not everyone’s going to care about the quality of hops and all the craftsmanship that goes into it. Sometimes people just want something that’s fun,” she said, adding that Gen Z looks for innovation, convenience, and escapism rather than the “localness” that previous generations sought out. “It’s less about your brand’s product, and more about your brand’s purpose.”
Caram suggested that the best way to get Gen Z consumers — and keep them — is to create a diverse product portfolio that can draw less brand-loyal and more price-conscious consumers in.
New Belgium is employing this strategy with its IPA-centric Voodoo Ranger series, which Knospe said has multiple entry points for new consumers to try out the brand. The range includes a hazy IPA, a juicy IPA, and a newly released Devilishly Light Lager that provide options for most beer drinkers.
With a strategy such as this, Knospe said craft brewers should stop segmenting its consumers so strictly when creating new products.
“You’ve got people down to these very specific occasions that define them as a consumer, when really they’re a person and they enjoy drinking beer,” he said. “That’s the big thing I’ve taken away since I’ve come in [is] pull it back a little bit and think of who are these people and what are their motivations outside of beer. I think you can talk to them in a much different way that might resonate a bit better.”
Watch the full conversation above.