Boulevard Brewing Company's recent explosion of interest over their Christopher Elbow Chocolate Ale presented many marketing challenges, especially in terms of digital strategy and social media. This presentation looks at the Boulevard social strategy as a whole, while Spiral16 provided our data-driven interpretation of what the crisis actually meant for the Kansas City-based brewer when retailers ran out of commercially available Chocolate Ale almost immediately. This presentation was given at the Taste, Tweet, Meet with Boulevard Brewing Company, sponsored by SociaI:IRL.

1. Boulevard Brewing Co. Social Media

2. Boulevard Key Social Media Venues Facebook Current likes: 60,388 Gained 15,231 likes or 34% increase since February, 2011 Posted a minimum of five times a week, averaging ten posts Twitter Current followers: 16,472 Gained 10,814 followers or 191% increase since February, 2011 Posted an average of five times a week Focused on following other pages of interest (bloggers, retail accounts, media, etc.) Bloggers/Forums Corresponded with more than 20 bloggers on a regular basis residing within our distribution area Monitor and contribute to numerous beer-centric forums

5. Relationships with Bloggers NebraskaBeer: From Boulevard Brewing Company’s Facebook page…beer dinner at Crane Café and Bar. KC Beer Blog: It’s here, the day we’ve been waiting for, Boulevard Chocolate Ale will be hitting liquor store shelves today. Chimpotle KC Blog: While I think mid-March might be a little late for busting out a beer as robust and warming as this, it did snow today and fans of the genre will appreciate a beer like this any time of year. Binny’s Beverage Depot: We have just confirmed that Boulevard Brewing Company, the pride of Kansas City, Missouri, will be shipping their beers to Binny’s in Chicago! BeerGeekNation: You will know that Boulevard’s Tank 7 Saison is one of my top picks for best saisons in the world, so when I found out they made a version except added Brett to it, I needed to try it!

6. The Tale of the Ale

7. Quick Overview 213% Increase in daily Volume Spiral16 began monitoring for Boulevard about 6 months ago, in October of 2011. From October 6 to Jan 24, we ran one set of queries that included “ Boulevard Brewery , ” “ Boulevard Brewing Company , ” “ Smokestack Series , ” and “ @Boulevard_Beer . ” These queries returned 4,148 results during this time period. On Jan 24, we started another set of queries that were specifically listening for “ Chocolate Ale . ” As of Feb 9 (16 days), that data set grew to over 1,800 results. Topic Total Pages Domains Date Range Pages/Day Boulevard Brewing Co. 4148 1077 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 46 Chocolate Ale 1873 280 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 144

8. Increase in online traffic AND in Boulevard’s stress level Chocolate Ale Volume Boulevard Volume

9. A quick look at the “site types” chart shows that Twitter accounts for the majority of Boulevard’s online presence, with nearly 60% of the total volume.

10. Top Domains

11. It was the best of times… 130% Increase in Volume Topic Positive Pages Date Range Pages/Day Boulevard Brewing Co. 2599 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 29 Chocolate Ale 856 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 66

14. … it was the worst of times… Nearly 40% of negative pages for past six months came in this 16-day stretch! 345% Increase in Volume Topic Negative Pages Date Range Pages/Day Boulevard Brewing Co. 228 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 3 Chocolate Ale 145 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 11

17. The natural tendency: focus on negative 345% Increase in Volume 130% Increase in Volume Topic Positive Pages Date Range Pages/Day Boulevard Brewing Co. 2599 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 29 Chocolate Ale 856 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 66 Topic Negative Pages Date Range Pages/Day Boulevard Brewing Co. 228 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 3 Chocolate Ale 145 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 11

18. “ It is much, much worse to receive bad news through the written word than by somebody simply telling you, and I’m sure you understand why. When somebody simply tells you bad news, you hear it once, and that’s the end of it. But when bad news is written down, whether in a letter or a newspaper or on your arm in felt tip pen, each time you read it, you feel as if you are receiving the bad news again and again.” ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid Especially when the bad news is in writing !

19. So which is it? Good news, or bad news?

20. Half Empty: Change in Volume/Day The perception was Boulevard took 1 step forward, 3 steps back

21. Half Full: Amount of Volume The reality was Boulevard took 6 steps forward, 1 step back

22. Perception = Positive Positive sentiment on 9 out of 10 of the top “Influencers” (visible pages)

23. In Our Opinion… Opportunity!

25. Round Two

27. The Result…