No, this post isn't about the advanced acrobatics required by the Karma Sutra, but rather about the uneasy position I, and most certainly many others, find themselves in. It is only 7 posts ago that I could in all honesty write these words:
"as long as the beer remains good then I am a happy BrewDog fan".
As a result of the latest marketing stunt, which is more clearly laid out by Mark over at Pencil and Spoon, and Pete Brown, I find that statement sorely challenged. As I have commented on Mark's blog, I am shocked by this latest whoring of the BrewDog name to the media circus, which of course we bloggers are part and parcel of, whether we like it or not.
At the end of the day, as I have said before here, the important thing for me is not what is written on the bottle, not the factory that the bottle came from, but what is in the bottle, the beer itself, and this is where I feel BrewDog can very easily redeem themselves, they make truly excellent beer.
Yes, the Portman Group often appear to be misguided zealots, ranting, raving and generally getting the wrong end of the stick entirely, but paying excessive attention to them does nobody any favours.
I don't care if you call your beer Nanny State, Knackered Old Cripplecock (still the funniest suggested idea for a beer name in history) or Coors Lite, it is the brew itself which will pass or fail the test of excellence, and it is excellence in the beer that the niche market BrewDog is looking to exploit cares about. There is a very fine line between standing for one's beliefs and courting needless controversy, and this stunt is needless. The people that Tokyo* was allegedly aimed at lapped up the beer, loved it, raved about it, gave BrewDog heaps of positive, free, advertising and marketing.
Those very same people are no doubt confused and have taken a step on the path to disenfranchisement from the BrewDog brand.
As lovers of craft beer (I am sick of the phrase "beer geek"), many of us consider ourselves sophisticated, well read, educated and worldly wise, and this is most probably why this stunt has backfired so spectacularly - BrewDog have insulted its core target group, not a very good "lesson in marketing".
As I said, they can easily redeem themselves. Admit they were wrong to pursue this course of action, attempted justifications just makes me think that they should stop digging their hole, and go back to what they do best, making great beer.
After all that is what James, Martin, myself and the rest of the beer blogsphere care about, great beer.
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Very well said - you've hit the nail on the head about why this hasn't gone down so well.
ReplyDeleteI think they've seen their mistake now, despite thinking that it was the right thing to do at the time. When you skate close to the line you have to expect to cross it.
I was emailing James last night and said, basically, if the beer was shit then no one would buy it more than once. A stunt may make someone buy their beer but it's the repeat buyers they need. The thing which excites me more than anything else with Brewdog is when they release a new beer.
Agree with you 100%.
ReplyDeleteEven if the brewery'd had no hand in the reaction of the Portman Group, the whole thing was childish to begin with.
Hopefully this will be the last time they do something so silly.