Since its debut in 2016, New Belgium Brewing’s Voodoo Ranger line has become a growth engine for the Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery.
The IPA brand, fronted by a snarky, skeletal “spokescreature,” came at just the right time. Sales of New Belgium’s Ranger IPA were down 50% and the team decided the brand wasn’t salvageable.
“We needed something fresh; we needed something more relevant to the IPA category,” CEO Steve Fechheimer said during the Brewbound Live business conference earlier this month. “It was time to take a risk.”
Year-to-day through late November, four Voodoo Ranger SKUs have cracked the top 30 best selling craft brands in off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm IRI. Those products’ off-premise dollar sales have increased double-digits:
- Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, +81.9%, to $82.1 million;
- Voodoo Ranger IPA, +10.2%, to $40.8 million;
- Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA, +50.1%, to $50.1 million;
- And the Voodoo Ranger rotating IPA series, +80.7%, to $19.2 million.
In the above video, Fechheimer discusses how New Belgium has honed the brand’s voice and how Voodoo Ranger has evolved within the company’s greater portfolio.
Watch all video content from Brewbound Live here.