E-Malt.com News article: USA: Craft Brew Alliance outlines its 2016 regional strategy

In an effort to keep up with the growing consumer desire for local craft brands, executives from Craft Brew Alliance stressed the importance of their 2016 regional strategy during the company’s annual national CBA-Con meeting with Anheuser-Busch InBev wholesalers, held on October 14 in Las Vegas, Brewbound.com reported.

That strategy includes an increased emphasis on strengthening sales of core brands in home markets and a focus on investing in new craft breweries via the company’s emerging business division, which has already inked partnerships with North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Nantucket-based Cisco Brewers.

To grow sales of both existing core brands and to accelerate sales of partner brands like AMB and Cisco, CBA will refocus its efforts on a deliberate “home market strategy,” Brady Walen, the company’s director of brand marketing, said.

“This is about ensuring that we have really strong brands in our home markets where they are most locally relevant and where it matters most from a brand health and profitability standpoint,” he said.

The company believes that by concentrating sales and marketing efforts for Widmer and Redhook in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, it can achieve higher profit margins and greater local relevance “where it matters most.”

In markets where Redhook and Widmer might not be as locally relevant, however, CBA must decide how it wants to spend.

“We’ve seen volume declines on both of those brands in certain markets across the country, so the question is ‘where do we invest our marketing dollars?” he said. “Do we accept that those brands are in decline? In the case of some of those East Coast markets, we see more opportunity investing behind local brands and we understand the implications as it relates to volume.”

In other cases, CBA will focus greater attention on more national plays like Kona and Omission, Walen said.

Nevertheless, building regional partnerships with companies like Cisco and AMB will be critical to the company’s long-term growth potential.

“We have clear priorities for each region — by brand, brand family or by pack type,” said Walen. “In North Carolina, for instance, we have made it very clear that the number one priority for CBA is Appalachian Mountain. In other markets, we have a list of priorities that are a little deeper, especially in areas where we are more established.”

To help support its regional initiatives, CBA will introduce new packaging, new beers and institute a more streamlined approach to seasonal rollouts for the Widmer, Redhook and Kona brands.

Operating on what Walen described as a “trimester” release schedule, all three brands will each feature three core seasonal products, a move that will “bring some continuity with our seasonal strategy, so the team and the network knows what to expect,” he said.

Redhook seasonal products will include Blackhook, Summerhook and Winterhook; Kona seasonals will include Koko Brown, Lemongrass Luau and Pipeline Porter; Widmer seasonals will include Hopside Down IPL, Hefe Shandy, Brrr Northwest red ale.

The Redhook brand will also be getting yet another facelift, returning to its original retro packaging from the 1980s. In addition to seasonals, flagship beers Longhammer IPA and ESB, as well as soon-to-be-released American Pale Ale, which will launch nationally, and ESL (an extra special lager that will launch in Washington), will all receive the classic retro treatment.

Additionally, CBA will take a different approach to marketing Redhook in 2016. In years past, the company had somewhat unsuccessfully relied on partnerships with radio host Dan Patrick, restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings and popular website The Chive, as ways to gain national attention.

The latest strategy, Walen said, is centered on building brand strength in the brand’s home market of Washington.

“It’s a lot of what we’ve seen work with Widmer Brothers,” he said. “This is about helping the brand at home. We realize that we will likely continue to see volume declines outside of the home market, but it is important for us that the brand is strong at home. We can’t expect it to be strong elsewhere if it isn’t strong at home first.”

For Widmer, support in the Pacific Northwest will come by way of aluminum — CBA plans to rollout cans of its flagship and best-selling Hefeweizen in March.

“It’s about occasion,” said Walen. “We’ve talked about introducing Hefe in cans for years, but execution had been difficult. After learning more about our canning operations with other brands, we feel like we are ready to do it.”

The Hefeweizen cans will only be available in Oregon in 2016, Walen added.

“We are not in the business of building brand strength by adding SKUs,” he said. “We will be paying attention to cans and consumer feedback. Expansion is on the radar but not something we are actively pursuing at this time.”

Finally, the Kona brand will again receive national advertising support, Walen said, with investment in the national “Dear Mainland” TV campaign ads continuing throughout 2016.


21 October, 2015