Case Study 8 New Belgium Brewing Developing a Brand Personality Group 5

5. Background Established in 1991 in Fort Collins by Jeff Lebesch Inspired by a bike ride through Belgium on a fat-tired mountain bike -> flagship product - Fat Tire Ale Evolved from a tiny basement in 1991 into a $5 million brewery in 1995

6. Sales: $32.0M (2008)Total US craft brewing industry annual volume is $6.3 billion 210 employees 350,000 barrels of beer a year The craft brewing industry produced nearly 8.6 million barrels of craft beer in the US in 2008.

9. Marketing department evolved from Kim and Jeff traveling to festivals, sampling out beers and talking to folks to having Beer Rangers who continue doing the same job Philantropic bike festival �What�s Your Folly� Web-based contest �The Worthy Endeavor� Media support Selling products emblazoned with its logo including hats, t-shirts, beer glasses, frisbees

10. �We're not looking at aggressive marketing strategies right now because quality of life-for ourselves and our employees-is important, too. If sales become the only focus of a business, and you're constantly hiring new staff, you may lose track of the original goals: to have some fun, maintain a great working environment and produce an excellent product that doesn't have [negative] impacts on the environment." Kim Jordan, 2003

12. With expanding distribution the brewery recognized a need to reach its far-flung customers -> looked for a more formalized and systematic approach to analyzing its audience Rejected a mind-share approach to branding and hired Douglas Holt �> proponent of �cultural branding� that tries to speak tensions within society Developed a brand manifesto describing the brand�s attributes, character, cultural relevancy, and potential.

14. Having selected Amalgamated, an equally young, independent New York company, as an advertising agency, NBB starting advertising through a mix of radio shorts, television and theatrical screenings. However, television quickly rose as a preferred option Amalgamated created a $10 million advertising campaign for New Belgium that targets high-end beer drinkers, men ages 25 to 44 and highlights the brewery�s image as being down to earth

15. The advertising helped position the growing brand as whimsical, thoughtful, and reflective. In addition to the ad campaign, the company maintained its strategy of promotion through event sponsorships.

21. Choosing of a character called the �Tinkerer� , who discovered an old cruiser bike, for their commercials Amalgamated allowed the whole NBB crew to take part in the process and weigh the different storyboards

22. Suggested tag line: �Follow your folly�.. Ours is beer.� led to a lot of discussion within the crew: Debate about the content of the tag line ? some had the feeling that the expression �folly� does not suit with high-quality beers Finally the creative team decided that �folly� is suitable and ready for a fresh new definition!

23. Jake Scott was chosen as director for the commercials: Shooting the spots on 16mm film stock Influenced by work of 1960s documentarian William Eggelston Scouted locations in Colorado Chose Charles Srbecky, a Czech Boulder craftsman to be the �Tinkerer� due to his atypical style and maturity

24. Chosen musician for the commercials: Devendra Banhart Music derived from �Freak Folk� Integrated sense of cheerful nostalgia The product itself was just shown in the last five seconds of the spot ? created a totally new way of beer commercials