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L E A R N E D :
Crafting a Better Drinking Culture P A R T
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WRITTEN BY CARRIE DOW
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ast issue we talked about the lessons learned from the Kentucky Distillers’ Association’s seminar titled “Crafting a Better Drinking Culture,” led by Director of Social Responsibility Ali Edelstein at the ADI Conference in Denver. Previous topics covered included simple ideas, like easy access to water, to more involved programs, like staff training. What follows are more best practices to help your business craft a better drinking culture, while creating more business for you.
SAFE TR ANSPORTATION Again, an obvious issue, but Edelstein emphasized there is more out there then Lyft and Uber. “If you’re not partnered with tour providers that help push people through your door,” said Edelstein, “that’s a miss because it’s great for your social responsibility effort and it’s great to drive business to your distillery.” Edelstein suggested looking at food and beverage tours, travel companies, and city tours that can add your distillery to their itinerary. Edelstein mentioned that 70 percent of Kentucky Bourbon Trail visitors are from out of state and therefore not familiar with local transportation. Partnering with public transportation organizations and tourism boards, and showcasing that information on your company’s website, helps people find those safe options and bring them to you. Another issue is location. Many distilleries are located outside of city centers or in rural areas making Uber and Lyft options scarce. Joyce Nethery, master distiller and co-owner of Jeptha Creed Distillery and winner of ADI’s Best Distillery Visitor Center award, conveyed her solution to this issue. “One of the things we’ve done, as we’re between our two metropolitan areas of Louisville and Lexington,” described Nethery, “is we want to be socially responsible, but we don’t have Lyft or Uber, so we partnered with KDA and our local tourism commission to set up a driver promotion. We had a breakfast and invited people who were interested in becoming drivers to come in and get their car inspected, fill out their application, and do all those pieces together. We increased the number of Lyft and Uber drivers that we had.” Another thing the KDA did is partnered with Lyft and Uber diWWW.ARTISANSPIRITMAG.COM
rectly to provide consumers with discounted and free rides. “We partnered with Kentucky’s transportation cabinet to offer $20,000 worth of safe rides on key drinking holidays,” said Edelstein. “We just did one on St. Patrick’s Day and it’s awesome the visibility that it’s gotten our brand.”
COMMUNICATION Communication involves many things, but Edelstein suggested that distillers focus on what values they want to communicate. What are your expectations for your company and your guests? How do your communications reflect on your brand? “Responsibility is an expectation,” said Edelstein. She suggested creating your own Brand Moderation Statement that can be incorporated into advertising and social media. One of her favorite statements is Jeptha Creed’s ‘Honor the Creed.’“Make it fun and a core value for your brand,” she suggested. Knowing what types of communication are good for your brand also helps. Barnes related this incident:“I had someone email and ask if they could have their high school senior come to the distillery and take graduation photos,” she said. “My first reaction was, ‘Pictures? Absolutely!’ Then my second reaction was, ‘That’s probably not a great idea [for an 18-year-old]. That’s my brand behind you in all those pictures going to family or going in a yearbook.’” During the seminar, Edelstein also brought in Clay Smith of Moonshine University. “You know how everyone has that ‘Are you 21’ on the first page of your website?” Smith began. “Well, Ali noticed and I didn’t until they brought it to our attention. The guy doing our website had made it that if you clicked on ‘No, I’m not 21,’ you were sent to a YouTube video of Teletubbies. This is problematic not just because it’s a little bit of ‘go home kiddo,’ but it was inconsistent. We changed it to (link to) Responsibility.org. We are the association’s education partner and we take those issues seriously.”
VISITOR EDUCATION Getting the consumer to drink responsibly may be the most difficult practice of all, but it’s also the most important. “We have to educate our guests about what’s in their glass so they can respect
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