I know, another beer brand. But I think this case is a great example of identifying business opportunities and making it happen. I was running the Moosehead Breweries account, Canada's largest independent brewery, primarily focused on their flagship brands of Moosehead Lager and Moose Light.
One night at a client dinner, I was having a conversation with the ABM who was managing the James Ready brand and showing me pictures of the packaging. Something I'd actually never seen before as we were focused on their flagships. James Ready beer was a brand with no marketing support in Canada's burgeoning discount beer category, a category that sold beer for the lowest legal price, $1/beer. So while the big players (including ourselves) were selling cases of 24 for anywhere from $40-$60, the discount beer category was selling them for $24. A category that was gaining steam despite it being considered 'cheap swill'.
After seeing the packaging, I noticed something that sparked a big idea. Its packaging actually looked as premium as all the major brands and was head and shoulders above the discount beer category. I saw this as an opportunity and it sparked a big idea: we put all our money into our beer, not our advertising and that's why you can get a premium beer for only a buck ($1).
I took the idea back to the agency and convinced the management to do the work on spec and I put together a strategy to bring it to life. It turned out to be one of the most successful growth stories in Canadian beer history, became a pillar brand account within the agency, created a run of globally recognised campaigns 6 years running (incl. the most awarded OOH campaign of 2008) and James Ready is now Moosehead Breweries' second largest brand today.
When you see an opportunity you believe in, do everything you can to make it happen.
The $1 a beer category (the lowest legal price you could see a beer) was swiftly changing the Canadian beer market, in only 3 years, it became 40% of the entire beer category. A huge hit with the college and University crowd who were thrifty spenders, the category soon became awash with players trying to grab their piece of the pie.
James Ready beer was Moosehead Breweries play in the category, but it wasn't being supported with marketing spend. But the one thing we noticed it did have versus the rest of the category was premium-looking packaging and higher alcohol percentage. In fact, while all the other brands in the $1-a-beer category looked cheap, we actually looked like a premium beer. I saw an opportunity to not only grow our unfair-share in the category, but pull in mainstream drinkers as well. A premium look, discount price, but with the humour of mainstream brands. The perfect recipe for the target market.
I developed a strategy showcasing how James Ready, a premium beer, could only be sold for a dollar: because we put all our money into our beer and not our advertising. In fact, we needed you, the consumer, to help us advertise the brand to keep this 'premium' beer only a $1.
A strategy that would see James Ready drinkers become not only loyalists, but rabid fans in their own right.
The big idea: Help Us, Help You, Pay Less.
Firstly, as a 'neglected child' within Moosehead Breweries, we had no budget. So we needed to create a campaign from virtually nothing. Luckily, as our advertising wasn't meant to be fancy to hold true to our ethos, it worked out just fine.
The first media we looked at was one we didn't have to pay for. Our packaging. Given the underneath of caps and labels were printed in plates of 700, this would become our first media space. Underneath each cap and label, drinkers would discover one of over 200 surprise
messages. Not only did they generate buzz, but they also told fans how to help keep the beer a buck.
We used the inside of our packaging to create our 'promotional gear'.
And for our meager media budget of only $140,00, we created an OOH campaign that would invite fans to help us fill our billboards. Afterall, we couldn't afford a proper shoot.
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With an increase in sales of 54% over the summer period VYA, it was the best kick-start to a brand James Ready could have asked for. The brand has gone on asking its drinkers to help us, help you pay less and James Ready has become Moosehead Breweries second largest brand.
Not bad for a brand that started over a dinner conversation.