Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Beer Marketing in Your Underwear?

By

world-cup06
Yesterday’s World Cup match between the Netherlands and the Ivory Coast must have been quite a spectacle. As widely reported, over a thousand Dutch ticket holders arrived wearing orange lederhosen bearing the name of a Dutch brewery. Read that sentence again. Notice anything strange about it? Because it’s exactly the way this story has been reported by all but one or two news organizations. What’s missing is the name of the brewery, which was Bavaria NV. As revealed by IPKat, “For the record, most media – presumably because they benefit handsomely from Budweiser’s vast advertising budget – coyly refuse to tell us the identity of this Dutch upstart.”

bavaria

So anyway, over a thousand Dutch fans show up wearing orange lederhosen with the beer brand name Bavaria on them. Dutch soccer fans traditionally don all things orange before games of their beloved “Oranje,” which is the nickname of the Netherlands national team and the distinctive color of their uniforms. So there’s nothing necessarily odd in that, and this is, after all, the biggest soccer tournament on the planet. But officials at the stadium in Stuttgart ordered them to remove their lederhosen or they would not be allowed to enter the stadium to see the game, despite having paid for their tickets. The majority simply removed them and went into the match and watched it in their underwear.

lederhosen

You can buy your own pair of orange lederhosen at the Bavaria online shop. They only cost about eight bucks, plus shipping. Or you can buy a twelve-pack and get a free pair. “The idea is supposed to be a gentle mockery of the Germans’ penchant for real lederhosen during the World Cup period. The lederhosen also feature a tail and a lion motif — the national symbol of Holland. So far over 250,000 pairs of lederhosen have flown off the shelves and they have become a cult item among Dutch soccer fans.”

Given that the lederhosen have long been available from the brewery and they are perfect for the rabid soccer fan, I don’t really see the problem. Go to any football game in the U.S. and you’ll see countless fans wearing their team’s colors in all manner of available merchandising paraphenalia. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine in a succesful marketing promotion many people wearing the same item to a game. In a stadium the size of Stuttgart’s (seating is 52,000) is a thousand people wearing the same team promotional item really that hard to believe?

Even if it is to hard for you to believe, so what if the brewery gave away the lederhosen or made it very easy to obtain them? Companies have been doing that since Adam Smith first used his invisible hand to avoid a “hand ball” foul. If more of them actually wore them to a game than anticipated, they should be pleased as punch, and FIFA and sponsor Anheuser-Busch should shut the hell up about it. That’s just the market for you.

But that’s not what they did, of course. Instead, they took a different tack.

“Anheuser Busch’s Budweiser is the official beer for the tournament and world soccer’s governing body fiercely protects its sponsors from brands which are not FIFA partners. Markus Siegler, FIFA’s director of communications, said at its daily media briefing yesterday that the governing body was alert to the kind of ‘ambush’ marketing Bavaria had attempted.

From the Yahoo UK article:

“Of course, FIFA has no right to tell an individual fan what to wear at a match, but if thousands of people all turn up wearing the same thing to market a product and to be seen on TV screens then of course we would stop it.

“I don’t know exactly about what happened in Stuttgart, but it seems like an organised attempt to conduct a mass ambush publicity campaign was taking place.”

Peer Swinkels of the Dutch brewery told Reuters by telephone it was “absolutely ridiculous” and “far too extreme” to order the fans to take off their lederhosen and said the brewery had complained to FIFA.

“I understand that FIFA has sponsors but you cannot tell people to strip off their lederhosen and force them to watch a game in their underpants. That is going too far.”

Also from IPKat:

Said FIFA: “Anyone can wear whatever they want, but if a company tries to carry out ambush marketing, FIFA must prevent that happening. In common with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and UEFA, we do not tell individual supporters what to wear, but … FIFA has already won a court case against a beer manufacturer who tried this sort of thing”.

What this means is “Anyone can wear whatever they want, if FIFA says so”.

American beer Budweiser and Germany’s Bitburger are thus the only beers that can be sold, or even worn by spectators, in the 12 World Cup stadiums. The IPKat wonders what FIFA would have done, had the offending garments been t-shirts worn by thousands of young ladies.

PR Professional John Cass had this to say about how the incident will likely effect Anhesuer-Busch:

I think FIFA just created a public relations disaster for Anheuser-Busch by requiring 1,000 Dutch football supporters to remove their trousers when entering an international football match.

FIFA thought that the bright orange trousers represented a “marketing ambush” tactic. FIFA officials blocked entry to the stadium of any Dutch fans wearing the trousers, rather than miss the game 1,000 fans took off their trousers and watched the match in their underwear.

I think the FIFA officials have lost sight of the boundaries between business and common decency. As for Anheuser-Busch, I would not want to be the PR Manager today. This sort of protection of Anheuser-Busch’s sponsorship by FIFA surely cannot be endorsed by the company, otherwise Anheuser-Busch will be remembered this World Cup as company that took 1,000 Dutchmen’s pants away from them.

FIFA might be right that the Dutch company’s marketing tactic ambushed the World Cup stadium. But in the end what matters most in marketing terms is how a company’s brand it perceived through its marketing efforts. I’ve been searching through the web this evening, and it’s not looking good for Anheuser-Busch. Most comments are from Europe, and the majority of the posts are either incredulous or negative about the incident, for Anheuser-Busch:

I say “tough luck corporate sponsors”, money shouldn’t be able to buy the right to subject people to this kind of indignity. At the very least these people should have been offered alternative netherwear. In fact I think they should sue the sponsor who insisted on this and campaign to boycott their wares. So watch out Budweiser, I’m off Bud now (Nouslife Blog).

Where’s all this World Cup goodwill?

… and I always thought it wasn’t the winning that was important, but the taking part (No Offence Intended).

The PR disaster that is Budweiser’s sponsorship of the World Cup gets worse (CMM News).

The Netherlands beat Ivory Coast 2-1. I think I’ll be rooting for them in their next match, which of course I’ll be watching wearing nothing but my underwear with a nice cold Bavaria Beer by my side.

Guinness Devolution

By

Yesterday the other Cannes film festival began, the 53rd annual International Advertising Festival, a.k.a. Cannes Lions. A total of 24,862 commercials were entered in this year’s festival. According to Advertising Age’s Bob Garfield, the best of the almost 25,000 ads was one by Guinness known as NoitulovE. Happily, AdAge has the commercial posted on their site so you can watch NoitulovE. Just press play part way down Garfield’s article.

Here’s Bob Garfield’s description of the ad:

In the end, the best commercial of the year is simply much better — much better than Sony and even much better than the four-star “Big Ad.” It’s from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, London, for Guinness, and it is in every way a masterpiece.

Three young blokes sit at a bar sipping pints of creamy Guinness. Then the film starts going in reverse — out of the pub, onto the street, into prehistory, dinosaur life and all the way back to primordial slime. All this to Sammy Davis Jr.’s swinging rendition of “Rhythm of Life.”

“The Rhythm of Life is a powerful beat, puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet. Rhythm in your bedroom, rhythm in the street. Yes, The Rhythm of Life is a powerful beat. …”

And so on. Eventually, the three guys are devolved all the way back to prehistoric mudskippers, just crawling out of the seas, and the familiar tagline: “Good things come to those who wait.” They sure do. Be patient long enough and you’ll find a flawless DGI production to an irresistible piece of music propelling a brilliant, astonishingly witty new iteration of a longstanding, unique positioning. This isn’t just great advertising; it is perfect advertising.

Click on the picture above to watch the commercial. It’s also available from Guinness and ‘boards.

Keg Disaster Averted in San Diego

By

Yussef Cherney, intrepid Ballast Point brewer in San Diego, California, acted heroically yesterday to save a 100-keg batch of Ballast Point beer. In the middle of the brew, a water main broke leaving the brewery without water, according to a report by NBC San Diego. Rather then have the batch ruined, a brewery employee drove around the area and discovered the spot where the main had broken and alerted local water officials. Within hours it had been fixed and the water was flowing again to the brewery, effectively saving the brew. Way to go go guys!

John Hickenlooper Finalist for World Mayor Award

By

John Hickenlooper, the current mayor of Denver, Colorado is one of 50 finalists for the 2006 World Mayor Award, although he’s among only ten finalists from North America and a mere seven from the United States. Anyone apparently can vote, so go cast your vote for John now. John founded the Wynkoop brewpub in Denver’s LoDo area (Lower Downtown) when there was nothing there but a jazz club (El Chapultepec) and abandoned warehouses. Today it’s one of the busiest areas there boasting great restaurants, clubs, and Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies baseball stadium. John’s a great guy and by all accounts has been doing a phenomenal job as mayor. It would be fun and great press for the craft brewing industry as a whole if John won. So go vote now!

Before his mayoral days, at GABF with Joanne and Jessica (both formerly of the Brewers Association). Joanne Carilli is now with White Labs and Jessica left the BA last year to pursue teaching.

History’s Most Profitable Beer Run

By

When Andrew Morbitzer went on a beer run to get his wife another beer and some peanuts at San Francisco’s AT&T Park on Sunday, he had no idea the lucky day he was about to have. As he waited in line, he heard the crowd roar and was sure he had missed Barry Bonds’ historic 715th home run putting him ahead of Babe Ruth and #2 on the all-time home run list behind Hank Aaron. But two fans above him missed catching the ball in the melee and it careened down the causeway and into the concession area behind the center field bleachers where Andrew was in line. He snagged the ball and was immediately surrounded by police and whisked away for safety. The ball could reportedly be worth as much as $100,000. Sadly, the reports did not include what kind of beer his wife wanted.

Anchor Brewery as Travel Destination

By

It’s funny to see how one our local breweries is viewed by the outside world. In this case, today’s Sun Sentinnel, from South Florida, had a travel piece about visiting the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. On closer inspection it appears to be a reprint from the Washington Post which they ran in their travel section in early April. But it’s still an interesting read.

Putting Beer in Cans: 21st Amendment Cans Their Beer

By


Back in the last week of April, I visited the Ball Can Factory in Fairfield, California to watch the first beer cans for 21st Amendment Restaurant & Brewery being manufactured. Last week, I followed up on that story to watch the next part of the can’s journey to your hand. So I joined owner/brewer Shaun O’Sullivan and his assistant brewer, Mike D., early Thursday morning at the brewpub to watch as they went through the process of taking empty cans and turning them into a full six-pack of beer. I even had a chance to pitch in briefly, which was great fun. All of the equipment used for the canning came from Cask Brewing Systems of Calgary, Canada. So I’ll step you through the process in detail:


First, Shaun O’Sullivan pulls out empty cans ready to be filled. At this point they have no end on one side and are open on top.


The cans are then rinsed and sterilized.

The next step is to fill the cans using the filler pictured here being tested prior to being used.

The empty cans are then placed under the two nozzles to be filled.

Where the beer fills the can rather quickly, in no more than a few seconds.


They are slightly overfilled to insure the proper amount as the end is readied to be placed on the top of the can.


A tray full of metal ends sits in between the two machines.


The trick is to place an end on one side of the opening and then seat the end on the entire can.


The next machine in the process is the seamer.


Which rotates very fast and double seams the end to the can top.


The can is carefully placed in between the gap, which is relatively small (I knocked a couple of the ends off doing this which meant having to discard those cans).


Then a lever is pulled forward and down which closes the gap and begins rotating the can.


Which double seals the end to the can, making it airtight.


The last machine attaches the six-pack ring to create a six-pack of cans.


Red cones are set on top of six cans and a lever releases the cones, creating a gap so a plastic ring may be placed on top of the cones.


Then the lever pushes the rings over the cans and seals them in place.


Voilà, Mike D. shows off a finished six-pack!

Here’s a movie of the entire canning process that follows it from empty can to finished six-pack. But be warned, it’s a very large file (over 87 MB). You can either download the movie to your desktop or just click on the link to play it in your web browser (assuming your web browser has the quicktime plug-in installed).

Lagunitas in Egg & Butter Parade

By

Today I took my kids, Porter and Alice, to the Butter & Eggs Day Parade in Petaluma, California. My son has been going through a farm animal phase and we though he would get to see a lot of horses and other animals in the parade. What we didn’t count on seeing was a float from Lagunitas Brewing Co. of Petaluma, though I suppose we should have. They had a flatbed truck with a band playing and all sorts of merriment going on. When the parade ended they kept on driving down the street, not stopping until they reached the Buckhorn Saloon, where I finally caught up with them for a drink.

The Lagunitas Float.

Pat Mace, a salesman for Lagunitas at the Buckhorn Saloon after the parade.

A Beer for Menopausal Women

By

While the FDA in the U.S. has been more than a little reluctant to endorse any health claims regarding beer, the EU has been at the vanguard of researching and standarizing such claims. Our governments’ stance on alcohol has been informed more by religious zealotry than any true health concerns. As a result we cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that the demon alcohol might in fact not be all bad. That perhaps there are some health benefits from moderate drinking, despite study after study that shows just that, is anathema to the puritanical thinking of the neo-prohibitionists who make our country’s drug policy.

Meanwhile, the European Union has quietly created standards for organic beer, gluten-free beer and who knows what else. In most European countries drinking beer and wine in a family setting with meals, as a part of celebrations, and at family events and gatherings is so ubiquitous that they stare at us in wonder and bewilderment when we continually demonize alcohol. So it’s no surprise really that European doctors are studying ways to ease the suffering of women going through menopause by creating a special beer for them.

From the article in the South African iol:

Women struggling with the discomforts of menopause may soon find relief in a cold glass of beer.

Experts in the Czech Republic are working on a beer specifically brewed for women experiencing hot flashes, troubling sleeping and other woes during this phase.

The low-kilojoule, low-alcohol beer being developed by the Prague-based Research Institute of Brewing and Malting contains heightened levels of phytoestrogen, a plant form of the hormone estrogen often lacking in menopausal women, said the institute’s director Karel Kosar.

Phytoestrogen is found in the hops and barley malt used in many types of beer. Kosar said breweries could produce the special beer by increasing the levels of these ingredients.

A gynaecologist working with the institute reported good results from clinically tests with the beer on 20 women. The volunteers who drank three decilitres nightly for two months reported fewer menopausal symptoms.

I certainly hope they perfect it before my wife needs it. But that gives them twenty to twenty-five years which should be plenty of time.

Green Valley Brewing: Origin of the Name?

By

I ran into a friend of mine last week who’s a sales director for a Bay Area brewery who’d been following the Wild Hop Lager story. He mentioned something I hadn’t realized. Since he travels extensively throughout the greater Bay Area and beyond, he frequently is driving up Interstate 80, which runs past Anheuser-Busch’s Fairfield Plant, which is located at 3101 Busch Drive in Fairfield, California. I’d wondered how much time and money A-B had spent coming up with the perfect name that evoked just the right image for their organic stealth micro. Turns out it may not have been that difficult to come up with, after all. According to my friend, the exit on I-80 just before the Bud Plant in Fairfield is Green Valley Road. That’s pretty funny. While it doesn’t prove they got the name from a nearby road that most of the employees probably drove by twice a day, it certainly is an amazing coincidence. Too coincidental, I’d say.

The red star toward the right is the Anheuser-Busch Fairfield Plant located at 3101 Busch Drive, Fairfield, California. The green arrow toward the left shows Green Valley Road just down the street from the plant. If it’s hard to see, click on the map above for a larger view.

UPDATE: I drove by this exit sign just before passing thre Fairfield Bud Plant on my way to tour the Ball Can Factory, where 21st Amendmet is having their new beer cans made.