“Our brand is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal to change the world”
James Watt, CEO of BrewDog
At Honest, we believe in values and sticking to them (and not just writing them down and never looking at them again which can so often be the case). We’ve been spending a lot of time recently defining our values and our position statement to ensure that they resonate in everything we do.
We love brands that understand the importance of having clear values – and sticking to them. One of the best examples of this that we’ve seen is BrewDog.
BrewDog is an incredible company – not just because they make good beer. The main reason we are such fans, is the strength of their brand.
Brand. Tone. Personality. Values. They’ve got it all and they stick to it – something most brands forget to do!
Where it all came from
Craft beer is more popular than ever and BrewDog is undeniably one of the leading names, and the forerunner of the craft beer revolution having catapulted it to being the beer of choice for many people.
So much so that the name has become synonymous with craft beer.
It all began in 2007 when two 24-year olds started a crowdfunding project called Equity for Punks which to date has raised £75million from 148,000 investors.
They had one mission – “to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are.”
They didn’t just make beer, however. They created an identity and grew a brand.
They extended their range, opened more than 100 bars and took on the big boys of brewing.
BrewDog is a brand born out of passion, and it’s that passion that has led to dedication, commitment and never steering away from its mission, values and principles.
“Against the grain. We will never conform”
The BrewDog brand is brash and unapologetic, yet meaningful and with a clear purpose.
Its entire tone and messaging is entirely based around where it all began with the company’s first beer, aptly named Punk IPA.
The punk ethos of rebellion, non-conformity and breaking the mould runs through the entire marketing strategy.
The BrewDog website is a treasure trove of marketing best practice and is well worth a deep dive. The company is open about everything it stands for and has published its values, mission statements, manifestos and blueprints for all to see.
BrewDog’s beliefs are clear cut, unambiguous and powerful
WE BELIEVE IN WORLD-CLASS CRAFT BEER
WE BELIEVE IN COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP
WE BELIEVE IN INDEPENDENCE
WE BELIEVE THAT BUSINESS CAN BE A FORCE FOR GOOD
WE BELIEVE IN RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
WE BELIEVE IN BEING A GREAT EMPLOYER
WE BELIEVE IN TAKING A STAND
WE BELIEVE THAT GOOD PEOPLE DRINK GOOD BEER
“These are core beliefs shared by everyone at BrewDog. Values we fight for every day that underpin our business at every turn. This is #BrewDogBelieve.”
Alongside the BrewDog beliefs, it has the BrewDog Charter which the company uses to inform every single decision it makes.
BrewDog’s marketing is all about being disruptive and creating noise. It’s reliant on stunts and word of mouth marketing. From selling beer in stuffed animals, to projecting 60ft naked pictures of its founders on to the Houses of Parliament, and then launching taxidermy cats out of helicopters over London to celebrate reaching their crowdfunding goal, BrewDog is not afraid to be heard and to ruffle feathers.
Most recently they have made headlines for a very well-played situation with Aldi. Aldi is notorious for its branding spin offs, with imitation products available at cheaper prices than the leading names. When the supermarket chain launched its “Anti Establishment IPA” (a clear spinoff of BrewDog’s iconic Punk IPA in both name and design) they had met their match. BrewDog weren’t going to take this lying down so, in genius move, launched “YALDI beer” with a spin on the Aldi branding.
The BrewDog team can also be praised for their instantaneous reactions to topical stories and the expert way in which they piggyback on news stories. They excelled during lockdown in particular.
When Marmite announced that it was having supply issues due to lockdown creating yeast shortages, BrewDog stepped in. A simple tweet saying they had some yeast that Marmite could use brought a new wave of praise and even more headlines.
Then, during the Dominic Cummings controversy, they launched the Barnard Castle Eye Test beer, with proceeds being donated to the NHS.
Like many brewers, they started making their own hand sanitiser for lockdown to help with shortages too.
A final example of how their ramped up their reactive communications during lockdown was a campaign where they gave out vouchers via its website for people to claim a free drink when lockdown was over.
An honest approach
Just last month, BrewDog made the headlines again with its honest as ever approach, when the founders held their hands up and admitted that the company is carbon negative. But, it is doing something about it.
With the launch of its “Make Earth Great Again” campaign, BrewDog has recognised its flaws and laid out the road map for how they will rectify this. The company has bought a 2000-acre forest (known as the BrewDog Forest) where it will be planting trees to offset its carbon emissions as part of its new sustainability plan. The aim is to plant one million trees by 2022 – a target they will no doubt smash in true BrewDog fashion.
