Times Changing- Brooklyn Lager: unaccepted at launch, now an entry level craft beer

This is a bit delayed, but Inc. magazine interviewed some of the food and beverage industry top talent and rising stars.  I always enjoy seeing a mainstream magazine delving into the business aspects of this industry.  Among the interviewees was Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery.  In regards to a question on the food revolution, he described first getting started selling Brooklyn Lage. “They said, ‘My God! It’s so dark and bitter.  Why don’t you make a beer like Heineken?,” when Today, Brooklyn Lager is considered a mainstream entry-level craft beer.” 

In response to a question on whether it’s harder to start a food business today, Hindy says, “Beer drinkers were very forgiving to the first wave of craft brewers, who didn’t have it right.  Today, people know what craft beer is, what it’s supposed to taste like.  If it doesn’t, they’re not going to buy it a second time.”

Although a lot has changed since 1988, it really is amazing that the average palate is now so much more accepting of bitter flavors, darker beers and overall funkier flavors. Hindy does predict that there will be a reckoniong one of these days, as quality is paramount to success, but acknowledges the changing customer along with social media may delay this eventuality. 

The article can be found here and is an interesting read, featuring Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group, Gary Hirshbery of Stonyfield Farm and Ari Weinzweig of Zimmerman’s among others, in addition to Hindy.  

Fernet Branca: Marketing to the Masses... in Midtown?

I’ve noticed something strange around midtown lately.  To be clear, when I say strange, I mean incongruent with my perception of the brand.  OOH ads have been popping up street level in parking garages and subway platforms in the midtown Manhattan neighborhoods, advertising Fernet Branca. 

I can’t imagine anyone reading this being unfamiliar with the product, but just in case, this is not a brand that has mass appeal or even awareness.  In an interview to eater.com, the amazing Boston brand ambassador Kirsten Amann (who I took a class from at the2012 MCC), gives a great description of Fernet Branca as “a bitter herbal liqueur that's consumed in Italy as a digestif. It's designed to settle your stomach after a meal.  It's really herbaceous, too — there's forty different herbs and spices,” and in that same interview goes onto explain that she either warns people that it’s ‘yucky’ and has to cajole the Boston bros into trying a shot by emasculating them if they don’t.   So yea, not really a mass product right now, but apparently Fernet Branca wants to change that.  Let’s take a look at the campaign.

Creative:  The ad features a woman, holding a glass of Fernet Branca dressed in a 1950s getup that was most likely purchased at Betty Paige.  The 1940s don’t see to have a strong tie to the brand, so it’s already starting with a little bit of a disconnect, but at least she’s an attractive model.  The setting is a non-descript cocktail bar, which at least makes sense with the ‘bartenders best friend.’ The copy reads: “Fernet-Branca: Shockingly Unique.  Fernet-Branca is like nothing you’ve ever tasted.  It’s strong, aggressive and not for the easily intimidated; but the closely guarded secret recipe rewards the adventurous with a bold taste, and leaves you feeling revitalized and alive.  Try a shot of Fernet-Branca and you’ll experience the 40 herbs and spices that give it a natural and unique taste.”

While I don’t think the copy is bad, it does not link up with the visual.  At least we can say it’s being used consistently, as this same ad appears in advertisements, on the brand sell sheet, recipe page and in social media.

Media: The media placement for this product is off as well.  I spend much of my M-F in Midtown Manhattan, and am quite familiar with the bars that are frequented for happy hour.  Many of them don’t carry Fernet.  Midtown also becomes unpopulated (with the exception of tourists) on the weekends.  These would be better placed in the cocktail centric neighborhoods of the East Village, LES and Brooklyn.  Look up the closest subway stops to Milk & Honey, PDT, Attaboy, Death & Co., Dram, Extra Fancy… place the ads there!  For an OOH advertisement, marketing best practices state the visual should be king to communicate the message concisely and quickly.  Unfortunately there is too much copy and  the Fernet-Branca bottle far too small to raise brand awareness.  I’m sure most people that glance at this will not be able to takeaway the brand being advertised let alone key massaging.  This ad from Denmark could be repurposed in NY, and would likely resonate better and with a stronger effect.

Social: Looking at the brand social presence though, they are mostly doing great:

• Facebook: 1,733,559 likes, is enviable for any brand.  The engagement rate is only 2%, although this is better than many brands; and the brand posts seem to be relevant and often feature open-ended questions encouraging engagement
• Instagram:  2,111 Instagram fans, and this seems to be an area where they could improve; even by using the FB pictures they post
• Twitter: 8,624 followers is great, as the brand seems to engage a lot by responding to tagged posts and joining the conversation
• Pinterest: No presence

In terms of digital ad placements, no sign of digital media being used.  This is a bit surprising, as it’s the easiest channel to use for targeting.  Even so, we can see a steady increase in awareness and interest, in terms of search:

In sum, Fernet Branca already knows there is just enough resistance to overcome, that once a person crosses that threshold they are a fan for life.  Eater.com put it best, “They hate it until they love it.”  People are hearing about the product, which is poised to take the next step in terms of growth.  I am in agreement with the on-premise focus to get people to first try the product, the first step on the way to becoming an advocate.  

Recommendation: They could improve by placing media more strategically, and being smarter about the OOH creative to more quickly communicate the brand message; start using digital to connect with tastemakers.  Use branded search by buying keywords of top accounts, so in Boston if someone searches for The Franklin or Starlite, they get a branded message suggesting a Fernet & Cola when they go out. Optimize social so the conversation is the same on all channels.

My last suggestion is to give me a coin.  This is unlikely to move any more product as I crossed the threshold a while ago, and am a huge advocate for and frequent imbiber of the brand. I just selfishly want one. *wink

Hey Bartender

After seeing Hey Bartender this afternoon, I was reminded by why I love this spirits industry so

much.  The synopsis provided by the filmmakers starts: "Two bartenders try to achieve their dreams through bartending.  An injured Marine turns his goals to becoming a principal bartender at the best cocktail bar in the world.  A young man leaves his white-collar job to buy the corner bar in his hometown years later he struggles to keep afloat." 

Indeed, while the film follows Steve Schneider, who starts at Employee's Only as an apprentice and strives to work his way up, while Stever Carpentieri is a candidate for Bar Rescue: running a bar in Westfield, CT he failed to evolve his once popular bar, and now struggles with a too frequently empty bar.  Filming began in 2009, with the final scene wrapping in January of this year.  Thus, we truly get to see an evolution of the personalities and approaches.  

Schneider starts as a humble apprentice.  We meet him as he arrives at EO in the early afternoon, as the junior member of the club he has the responsibility to set up the bar for what will be a crowded evening. (Fun fact: it's always a crowded evening at EO, the most popular bar by square foot in the country and perhaps world).  As time goes on, he gets more attention and increasing accolades.  While these are certainly deserved, by the end of the film you get a glimpse that there is still room to learn and grow. 

Carpentieri is introduced by reminiscing about the old days.  His neighborhood bar, Dunville's still has occasional busy nights at the beginning of the story, but business has thinned out mid-movie.  When a friend suggests a visit to Tales of the Cocktail he dismisses the idea at first, finally succumbing when he feels there are no other options.  It proves to be a revelation to him. Although we get to see him serve a muddled cucumber drink to positive reviews from a patron, the film wraps without letting us know if things were a success.

While this singular focus on the 2 characters is an accurate synopsis, it leaves much out.  Hey Bartender includes many of the cocktail heavyweights around today.  It was touching to see them all pay homage to Dale DeGroff, with nearly all the cocktail heavyweights listing him as the grandfather of the modern cocktail movement.  He makes frequent appearances, as does Sasha Petraske, Audrey Sanders, Tony Abou-Ganim, Simon Ford, Jim Meehan, Leo Robitschek, Julie Reiner... more than I can name.  One aspect that I really liked, and for me has always set the craft cocktail bars apart from the 'regular' bars is the level of hospitality you receive.

It's a fantastic glimpse into a life that many of us (me included) participate in, on at least some small level.   The Facebook page has a lot of great clips that didn't make the movie, so be sure to check that out as well.  I definitely recommend this to anyone that has any interest in the cocktail movement.

Release the Kraken

I was introduced to Kraken, a Proximo Spirits brand, about 3 years ago at the now shuttered Manhattan rum bar El Cobre.  The stout round bottle and line drawing of the giant squid make it distinctive among a shelf of other rum bottles.  I liked the branding immediately.

It took just a short while for distribution to scale to the point where a national ad campaign was warranted.  Most of the efforts I saw were online, but there has been a TV effort as well.  

The tonality of the branding is comically serious, in the vein of Monty Python.  While Hendricks has a somewhat similar tone, it differs in the singular focus on the creature of the Kraken.

The 'movies,' can be seen on the brand website, the brand YouTube Channel, or their Facebook page. They focus on the mythology: the existence, the strength and the survival.  They are handled like a Victorian era docufiction (see: Animal Planet, Mermaids, The New Evidence), with a clever witticism at the end of each video.  The theme is strong and instantly recognizable across all videos, using only black and white line drawings in the same look and feel as on the label.  The digital banners and pre-roll all had the same elements.  It worked great because of the consistency, making it recognizable and distinctive- just like the initial experience I had with the bottle.

There is one video that seems off-brand.  It's the only live action video, and shows various customers saddling up to the bar, and being hauled off by the tentacles off the Kraken after ordering a signature Kraken beverage.  It uses the tagline 'Put a Beast in your Belly,' but shows an external beast instead.  I'm curious to see how what seems to be their new campaign continues to evolve.

One other middling complaint is the lack of a recipe for the 'Kraken Bomb,' which is listed in at least 2 of their videos.  While it's understandable that they may not have a beer partner they can call out by name, even listing beer type (lager, IPA, ale) would be preferable.

In terms of media, the brand targets men, most likely 25 - 44; based on the tonality of the ads, the live action commercial showing exclusively men, and media placements during Sports and Comedy programs that perform well with this demo.  Media seems to be dark for at least half a year now, but social media continues.

While the number of Facebook likes is fairly low (142,476 at the time this post was published) it probably has high visitation due to the public page setting, which I am a strong proponent of.  Posts (and tweets) have waned in originality over the last few months (there is a limit to how many times 'Release the Kraken' can be said) Recent facebook posts focus on selling merchandise at the Kraken Store.  Serving as another branding touchpoint, merchandise is often overlooked and under thought - not in the case of Kraken.  While there is the usual swag that any bartender could expect to receive from a good rep (bottle opener, standard issue tote bag and baseball cap), there are some products that really do surprise and delight.  They have well designed rings mimicking the Kraken tentacles, an umbrella with the Kraken sprawling across the underside, and an awesome set of bookends.

While they re-purposed the content quite a bit between the various online touchpoints, it's not a bad idea.  It's unlikely that the casual consumer will visit as many of the same branded sites as I have, to see the videos and recipes.  Content that seems to appear only on the Journal has some appeal.  It's very curated, but they do solicit user 'sightings' as well.  Posts are time but not date stamped, making it hard to tell how often this section of the site is updated.  

Lastly, there is a Kraken app released in February of 2011, although there have been 2 updated since then.  With the goal to steer the ship and precious cargo through treacherous

waters, the game is trickier than it sounds.  It is also pitch-perfect on point with the branding that we know and that I've come to love.

Retailing for between $22 and $25 a bottle (although I've seen it at retail sold both above and below these pricepoints), the branding is strong, consistent and memorable.  In the cocktail bars I frequent, it's near ubiquitous, and I wish them continued success.