Connecting with consumers

Harpoon recently posted a piece on its blog about the upcoming 100 Barrel Series and I think it's an instructive piece of marketing and a good example of how some breweries are finding ways to connect with their most loyal fans.

I think Harpoon achieves a couple of things in this piece:

• Bring customers inside the tent – let them see what the process is like, fantasize about being a brewer, etc. This is a unique industry where your consumers crave more information about the product and, if given the choice, many would drop what they do for a living to work for the brewery. This is something few industries can use to their advantage and given the complex science involved in brewing, there is an almost infinite depth of knowledge that could be shared with your consumers.
• Personalize the brewing process – everyone wants to think that the brewmaster hand crafted the beer you're drinking with you in mind. But the reality is that to achieve repeatable, shelf stable, beer that is free of off-flavors, brewers need repeatable processes, large scale production, scientific/instrument control, etc. But, displaying the human side of the brewery promotes an image that adds value to the beer drinker's experience.
• Environmental consciousness, localism, sustainability – All trends in the craft industry and many upscale restaurants, these themes are promoted in the piece as a component of an image that many drinkers value. “The hops were picked just yesterday at Pedersen Farms in Seneca Castle, NY...”
• “Extreme/experimental brewing” – This is also a trend in craft and Harpoon seems to be taking a stab at this trend by communicating that they too are experimenters, crafters, etc. by brewing with hops that sound special, different or unique.
• Build anticipation – People will value what they can't have and building pull demand at the consumer level will help the brewery sell shipments to wholesalers and help the wholesalers get over their reluctance to buy and sit on new inventory that may not move. Also, they promote two other specialty beers that the brewery is trying to get traction around (Leviathan series and UFO White).

My last thought on this topic is that I think Harpoon's promotion of this blog post was an effective use of Twitter. I follow a number of breweries on Twitter and think that no one has really figured out how to use the media for marketing purposes yet (at least in this industry). Many breweries post random ramblings that might mean something to the poster but mean nothing to the reader (Magic Hat and Lagunitas are two examples) while others continually promote tastings and events that 99% of their followers probably don't have an opportunity to attend (Flying Dog comes to mind - although to be fair, they may be promoting to a more local audience and I'm one of the few followers who are not in their area).