CBAM Sept/Oct 2017

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

For the Craft Brewing Professional

Jeff Wood Creative Director Rahr & Sons Brewing Co.

Game changers How Rahr & Sons continues to revolutionize its brand play

PLUS: Photography by: Gary Copeland

Growing the beer market is as easy as expanding the opportunities for everyone

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VOL. 1 : ISSUE 3

SEPT/OCT INSIGHTS Industry News GAME CHANGERS How Rahr & Sons continues to revolutionize its brand play

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MORE PIE, PLEASE Growing the beer market is as easy as expanding the opportunities for everyone THE SECRET SAUCE Your key ingredients for customer retention

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editor’s note

Story time

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“Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” – Ira Glas

There are craft beer stories everywhere, told to a diverse set of audiences in a variety of ways. And here’s the thing – each story is different than the next.

So what’s your story? In a time when craft beer is blowing up, how is your brand’s story different than then next brand?

It’s an valid question, especially today, when new craft beers are popping up everywhere.

Let’s start from the beginning. How are you telling your story? And are you? In today’s branding universe, storytelling should be one of the most powerful ways to make your brand come alive in the minds of both your current consumers, and the ones you’re trying to reach.

Your story is what connects everyone to your brand. Take our cover story. Fritz and Erin Rahr started their beer story in 2004 with 2,000 barrels, eventually growing it to more than 20,000 barrels today.

But the story didn’t start there, it started more than 100 years ago when his great-great grandfather after coming to the United States from Rhineland, Germany. That long history of brewing was revived, bringing all the elements of a great story to the ever-growing fan base of Rahr & Sons.

“The brand new beer with a 150-year history” continues to write its story with a reinvigorated packaging campaign featuring a ‘60s and ‘70s vibe. Their story continues to resonate with its customers, who tell their family and friends, and so on...

Your story is no different. It has a personality, a vibe and a message all its own. So, if you want to sell your brand, make your story stand out. To tell a good story, listen to your audience and find out what they like, dislike. Find out their beliefs and attitudes.

And, remember, you must continue to listen as your story unfolds.

With each new chapter comes a different reaction from your audience. Emotion. Authenticity. Personal connections. These qualities are what storytelling is all about.

Tell us your story. Like Rahr & Sons, we’ll share it with our audience. Together, we’ll continue to make the stories in the craft beer community worth retelling over and over again.

Michael J. Pallerino

In today’s branding universe, storytelling should be one of the most powerful ways to make your brand come alive in the minds of both your current consumers, and the ones you’re trying to reach.

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insights

Say what, now?

Think that what your brand says doesn't matter? Think again.

According to Edelman's "How Thought Leadership Impacts B2B Demand Generation" report, 63 percent of consumers say that thought leadership is one of the best ways to gauge what a brand is likely to deliver. In fact, 45 percent say that a brand's thought leadership has directly led them to decide to do business with a company. The survey queried more than 1,300 U.S. business decision-makers.

Synchronicity Survey shows how consumers engage with brands In today’s age of consumer connectivity, the key to staying connected with your customers is pretty straightforward – keep it simple. According to “The Customer in Context” study by the CMO Council and SAP Hybris, only 15 percent expect brands to be everywhere, but they do want options.

The survey, which gathered insights from more than 2,000 consumers, shows that consumers don’t care if they engage offline or online – they just want service and experience wherever they go. Here’s a look at how they are connecting: 58% website

29% word of mouth

52% email

17% direct mail

46% phone

27% social media

30% in person

27% traditional advertising

Book Rec The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact

By Chip Heath & Dan Heath While human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter.

But what if a teacher could design a lesson that he knew his students would remember 20 years later? What if a manager knew how to create an experience that would delight customers? What if you had a better sense of how to create memories that matter for your children?

The Power of Moments delves into some fascinating mysteries of experience: Why we tend to remember the best or worst moment of an experience, as well as the last moment, and forget the rest. Why “we feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not.” And why our most cherished memories are clustered into a brief period during our youth.

Readers discover how brief experiences can change lives, such as the experiment in which two strangers meet in a room, and forty-five minutes later, they leave as best friends. (What happens in that time?) Or the tale of the world’s youngest female billionaire, who credits her resilience to something her father asked the family at the dinner table. (What was that simple question?)

While many of the defining moments in our lives are the result of accident or luck – the Heaths shows us how to be the author of richer experiences.

“Today’s [brands] have to accept the role of both a growth and customer experience champion. Being the growth champion means making sure that you really understand the market you are playing in and how you win.”

– Martyn Etherington, CMO and senior VP of business operations at Cisco Jasper, on why it’s important for brands to continually reshape customer experience expectations

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CIRCLE NO. 39

Game changers How Rahr & Sons continues to revolutionize its brand play

By Eric Balinski

Jason Robbins, Canning Manager and Jeff Wood, Creative Director

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Jeff Wood had this idea.

When Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. was looking to make its transition from bottles to cans as seamless as possible, the creative director harkened back to a ‘60s and ‘70s vibe to create a crisp, clean and eye-catching design.

It worked – big time. That has been par for the course for the Fort Worth, Texas, craft brewer, which was started by Fritz and Erin Rahr in the fall of 2004.

Growing from 2,000 barrels a year to more than 20,000, the Rahrs continue to grow the brand’s name around the world.

The Rahr & Sons story (Texas style) began when Fritz graduated

from Texas Christian University, where upon meeting his future wife, Erin, decided to carry on the family’s tradition of brewing. The Rahr family started making beer in America in 1847, not soon after William and Natalie Rahr immigrated from Rhineland, Germany, to Manitowoc, Wis. It was there the family’s long history of brewing started with Eagle Brewery, the first lager brewery in Wisconsin.

Fast-forward to 2004, where Fritz (named after his great-great grandfather) and Erin opened the doors of the brewery with the tagline: “The brand new beer with a 150-year history.”

Today, boasting more than 60 national and international awards, the brewer has been one of the darlings of the craft beer movement. Its story has been splashed across the pages of media outlets like The Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News, and has received accolades as far away as the “European Beer Star Awards.”

This year, along with its transition from bottles to cans, Rahr & Sons is rolling out a new look for its year-round beers and some seasonal offerings. Rahr’s Blonde, Texas Red and Ugly Pug, as well as Iron Thistle, Summertime Wheat, Oktoberfest, Winter Warmer and a new beer, Dadgum IPA, are getting a brand new look and will be available in cans – many for the first time.

Craft Brand and Marketing sat down with Wood to get his take on where the craft beer brand is heading.

trying to hone in on good, high quality beer that’s not so out there. Or, they’re trying to make new, wacky blends, which is probably a good thing in that it helps bring variety to the market and offers a little something for everyone.

I think the key, and our personal mission as a brewery, is to fall somewhere in the middle of these two directions. We want to make the highest quality beer, while keeping an interesting portfolio with new offerings on an annual basis. With all of these new breweries coming out, we’re probably going to start to see an emphasis on beer quality.

After all is said and done, quality is king.

What is the Rahr story from a brand perspective?

Since we are somewhat established as a 13 year old Texas brewery, along with the Rahr family history of Fritz Rahr’s great-great grandfather bringing German brewing tradition to the United

Give us a snapshot of today’s craft brew market from your perspective.

It seems like there’s still a lot of new breweries opening up almost daily in the Texas market. From my perspective, most of them bring something new to the table, as you have to in today’s market. They are helping push the ball forward for everyone to improve upon what they/we do best.

Consumers are eager to try the “new stuff” out there on the shelves, but it seems like the newness wears off faster these days for many of the new guys entering the market. Next week there’s another line-up of beer from another brewery for consumers to try.

Back in the day, 2006-2010-ish, if a new brewery opened up in Texas, you could easily be the new guy in the market for a year or more before you had another competitor take consumer attention away.

States from Germany back in 1847, we definitely have an angle on the “Brewing Tradition” branding strategy.

Our mission statement really sums it up for us: “Quality Brewed, Community Strong, Texan Proud.”

We brew high quality beer; we are heavily involved in charities and giving back to our community, and we are proud to be in one of the best damn states in the U.S.

What trends are defining the space?

What’s the biggest issue today related to the marketing side of the craft beer business today?

It seems like everyone is either trying to clean things up or go down the funky road. I see some breweries

Breaking through all of the clutter and competing with all of the overnight “pop-up” breweries.

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What is the secret to creating a branding story that consumers can buy in to?

We believe in lifestyle marketing.

We have a great staff of fun, hardworking employees, and we utilize our staff in lifestyle advertising to market our brands. We create all of our radio ads in-house and use employees when recording these ads. We use employees to market all of our gift shop merchandise and feature employees on all social media outlets. If our customers can’t associate with the people making the beer they drink, then we’ve missed out on a great opportunity.

Our history and heritage is something that is very unique to us. Being able to claim American brewing heritage dating back to 1847 is a pretty big deal.

What are today’s craft beer consumers looking for?

In addition to just trying something new, I think that the educated craft beer consumers are looking for quality.

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Define your consumer.

What are they looking for?

Our demographic is very broad.

We have Rahr fans of all ages and backgrounds. They are looking for different things. Some want to support their local brewery. Some are just loyal, die hard fans. Some are just passing thru as they constantly try different craft beers from different brands, and others are just getting into craft beer and have chosen us as a testing ground to dip their foot into the world of craft. This is my favorite category because I love to teach and educate people about beer.

What do you see as some of your biggest opportunities moving ahead?

Out of state distribution is going to be key for growth and opportunity. We launched Oklahoma in 2016 and in 2017. We have launched two additional states (Nebraska and Kansas), with plans

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to launch Louisiana before year’s end. Also, we just became a can-only brewery and have moved away from bottles.

At the same time, we switched from bottles to cans, and just did a complete re-branding and refresh. I think consumers who are familiar with us, but haven’t given Rahr a try in a while, are picking up our cans, checking them out and giving them a try.

Many of them, if they haven’t tried Rahr in over four to five years are basically trying us for the first time, since the quality of our beer has increased drastically from what it used to be.

What’s the biggest item on your to-do list right now?

Finish this interview and and get on a plane to Great American Beer Festival.

Describe a typical day.

Beer, beer, beer, and more beer.

Tell us what makes the Rahr brand so unique?

Our history and heritage is something that is very unique to us.

Being able to claim American brewing heritage dating back to 1847 is a pretty big deal.

Eric Balinski is the owner of Synection, LLC, which is a strategy and growth consultancy firm. For more information, visit: synection.com.

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business

By Eric Balinski

More pie, please Growing the beer market is as easy as expanding the opportunities for everyone Most people would agree, pizza and beer are natural soul mates, and often are the perfect paring for many occasions. Interestingly, pizza and beer have similar histories, with their roots going back thousands of years, with each eventually becoming linked to one country. German immigrants became the force for American’s love of beer and Italians did the same for pizza.

American creativity fostered the craft beer revolution through an enormous variation of styles, ingredients and flavors enhancing the outcomes of German beer’s original three ingredients.

Likewise, even before craft beer emerged, America’s pizza revolution was underway with numerous variations beyond Italy’s own Marguerite and Marinara pizzas. Perhaps then pizza may be the perfect analogy for the future of craft beer.

Allow me to explain.

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I read a story posted Sept. 29 on the website Virginiabusines.com about the opening of Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery’s Roanoke, Va., tasting room and the eventual opening of a new brewery based there. I was intrigued by the remarks of Gary Fish, founder of Deschutes, about its expansion relative to the craft industry and Big Beer.

“Our goals are accomplished if we do what we know how to do as well as we know how to do it,” Fish said. “Competition is strictly about us. It’s not about the other guy. It’s about how well we do what we know how to do. If we do that, we’ll get our share of the market. They’ll get their share, everybody will succeed and, quite frankly, the consumer will benefit the most.”

Deschutes president and CEO Michael LaLonde also said, “We just want excellent beer. We want the entire craft beer community to be at that kind of

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level.” (You can read the full story at: www.virginiabusiness.com/news/article/oregon-craft-brewertakes-its-…)

I love the idea of “making the craft beer pie bigger,” which creates more opportunities for everyone, rather than killing one another over a finite size pizza pie. This makes sense in many logical ways, as Big Beer would be hard to compete with given their resource advantages. It also makes sense, if it works, as it could preserve margins.

The question is, will more consumers come into the craft beer tent to make the pie bigger for craft brewers?

I’m sure there are plenty of futurists and beer pundits better educated than me in the beer industry to advance their predications. My perspective, however, comes from the many business plans I have read that predicated success being achieved with just getting 1 percent of the market.

In this case, converting one percent of non-beer drinkers into craft beer drinkers would grow the market nicely. I hope it’s not so, but it might not be given the recent trend of slower craft beer growth suggesting a potential maturing of the craft space.

Instead of following the ungrounded optimism of 1 percent, craft brewer must face two critical strategic considerations: 1. Where will growth come from to enlarge the craft brewer industry pie – in this case the brewer has to convert non beer drinkers.

2. Where will growth come from, if it doesn’t come from a bigger pie? In this case there are only two spaces, either from your buddy’s craft brew customer base or from Big Beer customers.

With either strategic consideration to grow, how you figure it out is the same. You must find customers who you can better serve or who are under served today. Ultimately, can you provide them a better experience than they’re getting now, no matter what they’re drinking?

Part of the answer may be in making more beer variety, that is, more variety of pizza types and toppings, or give potential customers a better experience beyond the beer itself, such as get a quality pizza faster, which Domino’s pioneered. In either situation, these are likely different customers or the same customers buying for different life situations.

A look at what others are doing...

Let’s explore what you need to do with an example outside of Craft Beer. My article in the May/June issue, “Strategic Thinking – Inside the New Game Board for Craft Beers,” discussed Yeti

I love the idea of “making the craft beer pie bigger,” which makes more opportunity for everyone rather than killing one another over a finite size pizza pi.

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coolers and how they reinvented the cooler industry with a high performance, virtually indestructible, super premium priced cooler that kept ice for days.

Yeti has been wildly successful, attracted significant investment and, in 2016, had its IPO. They became the craft beer success story of the cooler industry.

This past summer, a new competitor emerged in the cooler industry, OtterBox. As a loyal Otter box user (having destroyed three cell phones prior to getting an OtterBox) I was amazed to see its ad on the June back cover of Saltwater Sportsman magazine. Frankly, it took me back when I saw the ad, thinking to myself, what are cell phone accessory guys doing in the cooler market?

As I read the rather copy intensive ad, it hit me that they we going to try to grow the pie by actually starting in the customer space Yeti pioneered, high performance coolers. Their headline read: “An open letter to the outdoor industry. Outside is Not a Club.”

This ad spoke to those consumers who wanted the benefits of a high performance cooler, but may have been alienated by Yeti’s ad, which pitched to those people who enjoyed off-grid, over the top adventures where maybe even your survival was at stake. Sort of like, if you’re not one of these Type A outdoor people, then Yeti coolers are not for you.

Frankly, this is okay. What excited me was that OtterBox had determined new customers to go

after who enjoy the outdoors. That’s the only way to grow the pie, or perhaps convert potential customers into OtterBox customers.

As an owner of a Yeti cooler and an Otter Box phone cover, I can attest that both brands excel at designing and engineering truly outstanding products, much like craft brewers.

What’s interesting about OtterBox is that it has designed and engineered features into its cooler,

American creativity fostered the craft beer revolution through an enormous variation of styles, ingredients and flavors enhancing the outcomes of German’s beer original three ingredients.

Lessons of the Yeti (versus OtterBox)

No. 1 – To grow the pie, don’t assume all people like the pie they get today – yours or your competition, nor believe that all people need to do is just taste your brew to become a fan of yours. There are just too many options for consumers now.

No. 2 – Spend time understanding the day-inthe-life of current and prospective customers. For example, a high performance cooler company would spend time literally observing people in the outdoors to learn how they experience it, rather than ask people in the outdoors what they want in a better cooler or craft beer.

such as a side tray and bottle cap opener, more suitable for tailgaters and weekend warrior who enjoy the outdoors with family and friends in more civilized settings.

For those of you who want to read a review of Yeti versus OtterBox, read this article in Men’s Fitness: www.mensfitness.com/life/gearandtech/ yeti-vs-otterbox-cooler-gear-te…

Pizza and craft beer, what’s not to love about them? People increasingly have greater variety to enjoy them, and do so in many ways and settings.

The secret to make your craft beer pie bigger is learning about those settings.

Paese che vai, usanza che trovi! – (Translation: different places you visit, different customs you’ll find.)

No. 3 – Don’t just make a better cooler. Besides Yeti versus OtterBox, there are many other super premium coolers on market now. Most have positioned themselves as they are as good as Yeti.

In the case of Yeti versus OtterBox, Yeti targets extreme outdoor type A’s; OtterBox loves weekend warrior types. Both are distinctive customer types with different things those customers value or find important. You have to figure out who you can uniquely serve with by your beer and provide a better customer experience.

No. 4 – When you learn what is important to customers, communicating your distinctive brand value and identity to customers is easier because you know what resonates with them.

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strategy

By Denise Ciardello

The Secret Sauce Peter Drucker famously wrote in his book, “The Practice of Management,� that the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. Unfortunately, the latter of these often is overlooked. With the papers, online content and mailers filled with so many ways to attract new customers, what businesses tend to forget is that they spend almost three times as much on attracting new customers than retaining the customers they already have.

Every business has a culture, and the culture defines whether the office is customer, time or technology-focused, along with a sense of negativity or an attitude of joy. The standards and values of the team can become apparent to a customer as soon as they interact with your brand.

When the emphasis of the office is placed on exceptional customer care, the team becomes an asset that will continue to grow the business over time.

The significance of creating greater customer satisfaction begins with a total team approach.

The following three ingredients form the secret sauce to create an office environment that generates raving fans, in turn developing an organic marketing strategy that brings in friends and family of your satisfied customers.

Your key ingredients for customer retention

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No. 1 – Personal Attention

No. 2 – Be Timely

Customer service is the first step in effective marketing. When a customer walks in your front door, how does he feel? Do you realize that you can change someone’s entire outlook with a simple smile?

Personal touches, like shaking hands and individual greetings provide an immediate differentiator, and project a form of professionalism that people expect from a business encounter. By ensuring that someone feels like you are glad that they are there, they will only leave your office feeling happy – and even better – he’ll go tell all his friends.

A major complaint from customers is the wasted time they spend waiting to talk to someone. Customers don’t enjoy being forced to wait without knowing the reasons for the delay or how long the delay will be. Staying on schedule (or close to it) is a major factor in customer retention – perhaps even one of the biggest. There is a clear message of “indifference” that flows when people frequently experience long wait times.

You should work to prevent delays by avoiding overbooking appointments and advising their clients and customers on the nature and length of delays. By merely explaining that you’re running five minutes behind can immediately diffuse any frustration. Honesty is the best policy.

Be a team player: A true professional is willing to help his or her co-workers when they are overburdened. He or she isn’t afraid to share knowledge, opinions, or simply an extra pair of hands. One person’s success reflects well on everyone in his or her workplace.

Every facet of your business – large and small – is important, and customers will always appreciate excellent customer service. While you put so much emphasis on the

Personal touches, like shaking hands and individual greetings provide an immediate differentiator, and project a form of professionalism that people expect from a business encounter.

No. 3 – Focus on Professionalism This area is lacking in so many businesses. Is it because our society has become so casual and that is getting mixed up with how to remain professional? Here are a couple of parts of professionalism that you can focus on: Don’t hide from your mistakes: As hard as it may be to do, take ownership of your mistakes and do your best to correct them. Try not to make the same one twice. Never blame others, but set an example so that those who shared in the mistake can step forward and admit it. By the same token, don’t constantly call others out on their mistakes; rather, help to teach them the right way.

new customer, what about the returning customers? You need to woo each one equally. Give that personal attention that everyone longs for in every aspect of their lives. Treat customers with respect at all times. If you maintain a culture of respect, your customers will know that they are truly being well cared for. Stay on time; work together as a team to maintain that time schedule and when someone falls behind, let the customer know that there will be a wait.

Conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times. This includes how you look, what you say and how you treat others. Keep an open line of communication with your clients, and ensure prompt attention to any issues that may arise.

It doesn’t take a lot to create the secret sauce to customer retention – it just takes consistency and attention to detail. Most importantly, it takes a team.

Denise Ciardello is the co-founder of Global Team Solutions (GTS), an accomplished speaker, and author of the Office Management Gems series. For more information, visit www.GTSGurus.com.

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