The document summarizes key points from presentations at the Beer Innovation Summit. It discusses how BrewDog used passionate, anti-establishment marketing campaigns to build a following and position itself as the future of beer. It also covers how Innis & Gunn discovered its oak-aged beer by accident but has grown into Scotland's largest independent brewer, and how speakers emphasized the need to change negative stereotypes about beer and talk up the industry's economic value.

1. 30 April 2015 morningadvertiser.co.uk
12 Events:Beer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation SummitBeer Innovation Summit
30 April 2015
Cheerforbeer
atPMAsummit
The key to marketing
success for beer brands is
having a clear and
passionate message and
encouraging drinkers to “join
a cause”.
That was the message
from the man behind many
of BrewDog’s high-profile
PR campaigns.
Having worked with the
controversial craft brewer
since its infancy, Alex Myers,
managing director of agency
Manifest London, said:
“BrewDog wanted to be
anti-establishment and still is. It’s
this passion that made BrewDog
famous among people who were
already into the beer scene. But
it also resonated with people
who were turning up to pubs and
seeing the same four taps in
every place and didn’t really
think very much about the beer
that was coming out of them.”
BrewDog last week announced
‘Get people to join your cause’
plans to raise a further £25m to
fund the expansion of its brewery
and new bars across the UK, as well
as a “craft beer hotel” near its HQ
outside of Aberdeen.
Myers reminded the marketers
and brewers in the room that
campaigns needed to excite the
same kind of passion in a product
to gain followers, as well as those
that would go on to become
ambassadors of the brand.
“BrewDog knew why it existed.
But this wasn’t really marketing
about beer at all. It wasn’t even
saying ‘we just exist as an
alternative to those [other
brands]’ and it was saying
‘there’s a new future and you
can be a part of it’.”
Myers added: “If people join
a cause, they don’t disappear
— they stay.”
BrewDog’s marketing stunts
have included driving a tank
down London’s Camden High
Street to mark its bar opening,
projecting naked images onto
the Houses of Parliament, and
mocking Russian president
Vladimir Putin with a specially
brewed beer.
“Every revolution is born with
passion and everything we do is
about making people passionate
about the cause. BrewDog is
always talking about why they
are there in the first place — to
change things.”
plans to raise a further £25m to
“BrewDog knew why it existed.
But this wasn’t really marketing
about beer at all. It wasn’t even
saying ‘we just exist as an
alternative to those [other
brands]’ and it was saying
‘there’s a new future and you
can be a part of it’.”
a cause, they don’t disappear
— they stay.”
down London’s Camden High
Street to mark its bar opening,
projecting naked images onto
Rebel with
a cause:
Alex Myers
2015
The annual Beer
Innovation Summit,
hosted by the
Publican’s Morning
Advertiser, took
place in Birmingham
last week. The
event featured
presentations from
top industry figures
as well as insight
from leading brewers
and marketing
experts, alongside a
number of interactive
sessions designed to
get people thinking
differently about
beer. The summit was
attended by senior
decision makers
across the category
The beer is the music.
The glass is the speaker
Stephen McGraw, Riedel UK
Partnered byOrganised by

2. morningadvertiser.co.uk30 April 2015
Brewers and pub
retailers have a golden
opportunity worth a huge
£1.6bn to expand the beer
market, according to
Kantar Worldpanel.
The consumer research
group’s head of alcohol
Kevan Mulcahey pointed
out that, currently, beer,
as a category, runs the risk
of limiting its appeal to new
consumers because typical
pub beer drinkers are
older men.
“We have identified three
key core areas in need of
development that offer
great opportunities for beer
in the on-trade: food occasions,
young men and the female
‘Pubs must seize beer opportunity’
market,” said Mulcahey.
On the subject of food, Mulcahey
said that the proportion of men and
women that drink beer when
eating a meal drops drastically,
meaning there is an opportunity
for pubs to encourage beer
drinking throughout the course
of a meal through food matching
and not just as an aperitif.
When it comes to young men,
he said: “Another finding shows
that young men are also less
interested in beer.
“Among 18 to 24-year-olds,
beer’s share of repertoire is a
third lower than it is for total
male drinkers.
“This can be changed by
tapping into high-tempo
occasions where speers (spirit
beers) have seen success.”
The final area of opportunity is
the female market, according to
Kantar’s research.
Women don’t consider beer as
much as other they do other
drinks, mainly because of the way
it is marketed, preferring spirits,
particularly vodka. Women
also influence the drinking
habits of men around them,
with men often eschewing
beer for other categories in
mixed-sex occasions.
“Womens’ influence is
especially key in growing the
market,” said Mulcahay.
“Get it right and the impact
is twofold; more female
drinkers leading to incremental
business, as well as a greater
acceptance of beer so that
men feel more comfortable
drinking it in the presence of
females. There is a big size of
the prize: our estimates are
conservative, but amount to
about £1.6bn.”
drinking throughout the course
of a meal through food matching
and not just as an aperitif.
he said: “Another finding shows
that young men are also less
interested in beer.
beer’s share of repertoire is a
third lower than it is for total
male drinkers.
tapping into high-tempo
occasions where speers (spirit
Development:
KevanMulcahey
14 Events:Beer Innovation Summit
What do Norwegians like?
Frozen pizza and money.
So I brewed a beer with
pizza and dry hopped
it with Krone
Mike Murphy, Lervig
We wanted BrewDog to be to
beer what punk was to music
Alex Myers,
Manifest London

3. morningadvertiser.co.uk30 April 2015
Dougal Sharp, founder
and chief executive of
Innis & Gunn told
delegates the story of
how he stumbled upon
the brewer’s famous
oak-aged beer that is now
exported to more than 20
countries worldwide.
He was approached by
whisky maker Grant’s to
produce a beer that would
be used to flavour barrels to give
the whisky a different taste. The
used beer didn’t get thrown
away and was drunk by the
workers, who reported that the
oak barrels had completely
transformed its flavour.
Grant’s and Sharp embarked
on a joint venture in 2003 to
produce and sell the beer, and
Innis & Gunn was born. While the
beer was discovered by accident,
the business has grown to
become Scotland’s largest
independent brewer.
The company has now
innovated with different spirits
and styles as well as its first
‘Let’s change the image of beer’
lager. “We’ve had great fun
along the way,” said Sharp.
“Our industry does need to
innovate but it always need
to be done with the consumer
in mind.”
Sharp said the sector should
do more to talk beer up as a
low-strength alcoholic drink. “It
p****s me off when I see another
newspaper article about the
benefits of wine that is based on
dubious evidence. The biggest
innovation we can deliver is to
change the image of beer for
ever and get rid of the negative
stereotypes of the past.”
be used to flavour barrels to give
Lose negativity:
Dougal Sharp
The British Beer and Pub
Association (BBPA)
identified how crucial it
was for the sector to
present a united front to
keep pubs and beer in the
minds of politicians
following next month’s
general election.
BBPA director of public
affairs David Wilson said:
“I think the challenge is to
put beer and pubs on the
election agenda and keep it
there. It’s an opportunity for all
of us to demonstrate £22bn
worth of economic value that the
industry brings to our economy
and the fact that we, as an
industry, support more than
900,000 jobs.”
Wilson said the past five years
had been “eventful”, but the
coalition Government had
proved itself to be “pub-friendly”
with a hat-trick of beer duty cuts,
support for pubs on business
rates and employment costs, as
well planning reform.
“We have, as an industry, been
speaking with one voice and
made some significant changes.
I believe that we can
Talk up the industry’s value’
communicate the revitalisation
of the beer and pub sector. We
have ended the beer duty
escalator; we’ve seen historic
reductions too, but there is still a
lot to do. We need to make sure
that the new MPs are fully aware
of the importance and
significance of our industry.”
Wilson said a number of “beer
champion” MPs were contesting
marginal seats, including current
community pubs minister Kris
Hopkins. Regardless of the
outcome of the election, he
called on the next government to
retain the pubs ministry because
it had proved a key role for the
sector in Whitehall.
Keep lobbying:
David Wilson
It’s still the case that
many pubs don’t serve
beer in the right way in
terms of glassware
and presentation
Mike Benner, SIBA
I fight people online
who give their beers
sexist names because
it is damaging for both
men and women
Pete Brown, beer writer
Yes people are starting
to fall back in love with
beer but we still have
a long way to go
David Cunningham,
There’s A Beer For That
16 Events:Beer Innovation Summit