During the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), held earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee, Brewers Association (BA) leaders dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to advocating for the increased adoption of its independent craft brewer seal.
“If you package your beer, please think long and hard about adding the seal to your packaging,” Bob Pease, the CEO of the BA, said during his first general session remarks. “We know that is not an easy ask, but it’s important.”
The badge, an upside down beer bottle featuring the words “independent craft,” was created to help BA-defined craft breweries – those that produce fewer than 6 million barrels of beer annually and are less than 25 percent owned by larger corporate alcohol entities – distinguish their brands from those owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, MillerCoors, and Constellation Brands, among others.
To stress the importance of adopting the seal, the BA plastered images of it throughout Music City Center, where the event was held and named the WiFi network “Independence Matters.” To get online, users had to use the password “SeaktheSeal.”
But was all that promotion effective?
While on the ground in Nashville, Brewbound canvassed the convention center and asked attendees for their takeaways from the general session presentations. A selection of those responses is included in the video above.