Moving Beyond Local: Can Craft Beer Brands Learn to Travel?

New Channels

There are some craft beer models that are trying to take a running start, as well, attempting to short cut the “build local” model by adopting national branding ideas. The movement toward lower-alcohol “session” beers is one that is occasionally identified more with a national movement to replace traditional premium beer with a similarly light, accessible, but better-crafted style. The development of channels like Whole Foods has also created the potential for new beer to debut and go national quickly, so long as the capacity is there.

“The retailers are getting much more knowledgeable about the craft segment,” says Gatza. “When you have a big launch from a retailer, people are going to pay attention.”

That’s why an understanding of the new rules of craft branding is so important: as so many new beers enter the marketplace and there is so much consumer choice, branding elements need to be in place to help consumers make sense of the marketplace. They’re different, as Ricci says, but they’re there, and they’re becoming increasingly necessary.

So what’s the key to identifying brands that can travel? Owsley spent a lot of time considering this question as he looked to break New Belgium into new markets — a process that owner Kim Jordan still approaches gingerly: she recently told Craft Beer News that moving into six new states one year “nearly killed us” — and he’s come to believe that it is about creating a brand that stands for something greater than the region they’re in. For New Belgium, the brand has been able to travel because of the company’s principles, which he calls “being humble and being smart.”

Source: Symphony/IRI Total food/drug/c-store/mass excluding Wal-Mart. 52 weeks through 3/18/12

“Every little communication point at New Belgium was a chance to express our story. The coasters were like postcards. It’s the little details — call New Belgium, you get a live person.”

While those specific branding ideas aren’t easily replicated, the principles behind them are. And, he says, the industry should be able to notice the brands that are expressing it.

“It needs to be beyond, ‘look at us, we’re small!’” he says. “There’s all that camaraderie around craft beer, but eventually, you need to think of it as a competition. Find some way to develop a story so that if people enjoy the beer they’re ready to come back for another. Or two more, even.”

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the April/May issue of BevNET Magazine