Beer can be the Stylish One
The woe is the future of beer sales stories continue to roll in. Over the weekend, Investors Business Daily published a story that asked “Can brewers make America thirst for beer again?” Today the New York Times has one with the headline: “Frothier Than Ever: The Tall Cold One Bows to the Stylish One.”
The nut graph reads:
So brewing companies are fighting back. Hoping to change the way people think about beer, brewers are devising new and unusual packaging, spending more money to promote their brands in bars and restaurants, and producing drinks that may be beer in name only.
The reason for these stories is simple: Rising wine and spirits sales, flat national beer sales. What the stories overlook is that sales of “high end” beers - both American-brewed craft beers and some imports - continue to grow at 7% annually (last year and so far this year).
Instead, the Times writes about marketing innovation:
“After thousands of years of compelling relevance, beer is suddenly passé,” Norman Adami, chief executive of Miller Brewing, said last week at a Beer Institute meeting in Milwaukee.
That is a big problem for the beer industry, which is accustomed to creating powerful brands and producing effective marketing campaigns. But beer no longer captures the imagination or tastes of trendsetters, or even trend followers.
This story misses the point that many smaller breweries produce beer-like beers that succeed because what’s inside the bottle is distinctive. Some are innovative - not quite like beers that have come before - and some are steeped in tradition.
Why does it matter to those of us who like those beers that such business stories (that’s the section of the Times it appeared in) focus instead on the woes of major brewers? Because if the people at your favorite beer store (be it a Safeway, a wine shoppe or a basic liquor store) are told often enough that BEER SALES ARE OFF they’ll start to devote more space to flavored vodkas and who-knows-what wines.
It doesn’t hurt for you to remind them you’re there for the beer. “For us, demand begins with the educated drinkers,” said Craig Hartinger, marketing manager of importer Merchant du Vin. “Then the great retailers will seek it (a beer) out. It’s really the consumer getting it started.”
