Monday 19 December 2011

I Can do Cheap Marketing Too.

Oops they did it again. Just as I was starting to warm up to them again, James goes and pulls another stunt. Lets not for a minute be naive enough to think he thought it was a harmless bit of fun, he knows exactly what he's doing, after all, he's built his business doing these sorts of things.

Good luck with the latest one James. Here's my response.

Tap Easts Marketing Budget went further than expected.

21 comments:

Ed said...

Sorry, I've missed this. What's he done?

rabidbarfly said...

Put a photo on twitter of him holding a bit of paper with the words 'I am so Sad, I raped my cat'.
Idiotic at best.

Ed said...

Oh dear. It's because of things like this I don't buy their beer anymore.

SteveF said...

I don't object to fairly outlandish stunts or even offensive ones. But if you're going to go down that route, then you've got to be witty and amusing.

Actually I was more offended by this crap:

When I ask whether there is anyone else in UK brewing that he admires, there is a long pause as he draws a verbal pistol.

"No. Well... there is a guy called Evin who has a brewery called The Kernel in London. I love his beers," he says. "But we don't like the cask ale thing for a start. If you look at the flavour spectrum, there's no diversity. They call themselves by their locations. They put twee maps on the backs of their bottles. Their target market seems to be guys that hang out at train stations at the weekends. Everything is between a 3.5% and 4.5% mild. It's not exciting and it's not cool."


http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/the-crazy-world-of-brewdog.16115042

So much for the collegiate approach of craft brewers. What's dumb about this sort of thing is that to back up this kind of rhetoric, you've got to be making really really really amazing beers. Brewdog don't. They make a number of good beers, possibly a couple of great beers. But nothing truly out of the ordinary in terms of quality or innovation (IMO). As Brewers they are undoubtedly towards the top end, but no better than the likes of Thornbridge, Dark Star, Marble, Magic Rock and a whole bunch of others (probably worse in some cases) in the UK (though they now have a different focus admittedly).

Anonymous said...

TOO KOOL for SKOOL?
Like RICK YOUNG?
Like SCHAR 169?
One a FLUNKY and the other a TEACHER?
They wanted their QUELLY?
They wanted their CULLY?
They wanted their MAJAACAC?
They certainly got a lot more than they ever bargained for, because now, they're in our movie..." KANSAS KINGS".

Anonymous said...

Admittedly.
Bunch of " SS" assholes.
We 've had TURNER - ROMNEY - DELL- for six months.
Our blogs are better than yours and you call this an international mob business?

Matt Gorecki said...

Hey! you're talking about Forbes top 30 fella of the year there!

Jeez, KLF did that tank stunt fucking years ago...

I'm feeling pretty inspired by anonymous though, if anyone can explain that further to me I'd appreciate it.

Matt Gorecki said...

And by the way shagging cats is a complete waste of time, I'm surprised he admitted to it.

rich! said...

sounds like someone trying to distract attention from their inability to ship beer to people.

"selling beer" means "delivering to customers", not "ooh, we shipped a month late, and your order cut your hand open because we couldn't be bothered to spend money packing it".

yes, shareholder. sos.

Ghost Drinker said...

Who's Brewdog?

Martyn Cornell said...

Somebody's got to make a joke at some point about "pussy", so I will, just to get it out of the way.

But really: "we don't like the cask ale thing for a start. If you look at the flavour spectrum, there's no diversity." What? Even if that were true (which it isn't), it begs the question that diversity is automatically a Good Thing (which it isn't. Nice, sometimes, but a diverse range can be very far from a great range).

And "Their target market seems to be guys that hang out at train stations at the weekends." Very much not, I'd have said: if Kernel appeals to anybody in particular, surely it's just the same demographic as BrewDog. Which is undoubtedly James's problem.

And finally: "Everything is between a 3.5% and 4.5% mild. It's not exciting and it's not cool." James, James: if you have to say: "Nah, nah, we're cool, and you're not," man, you're so not cool at all.

rabidbarfly said...

Wow - Anonymous just blew my mind. Does he make beer?
Stevef - I think there are lines which shouldn't be crossed, after all you're only trying to sell beer.
Why alienate possible punters before they've bought anything?
Why alienate people that are already buying your beer?

I have to say I didn't read the Scotland Herald article but the quote you've put on there is just like the stuff that's always come out of the Brewdog camp. Nothing new really.

Martyn picked up on the 'we're cool, you're not' attitude which I think will just ultimately make Brewdog just look a bit childish. Time to grow up, just my humble opinion.

Stoph McBride said...

James needs to get try Buxton Axe Edge, far better than any Brewdog beer I've ever tasted. Does he realise that this sort of thing maybe doing more harm than good?

rabidbarfly said...

Stoph - completely agree, there are some really stunning beers out there now.

Sid Boggle said...

It's all the usual BD cobblers, isn't it? Maybe he feels they haven't been getting enough attention lately. James told me at a LoveBeer event a couple of years ago that he liked Dark Star beers, so perhaps his tastes have changed or he's just amping up the rhetoric.

Kernel? Maybe it's the whole 'non-brand' thing that BD thinks is cool. Or maybe James wants to hang with a new cool kid to bolster his own quotient of street cred. Who knows? Who cares?

Vasquez said...

Did they not start their business on cask beer???
Maybe they have forgotten thier roots!

rabidbarfly said...

Sid - complete cobblers, as is the norm. It's almost like a small child saying 'look at me!, Look at MEEE!'
Vasquez - As do most brewers in Britain. Bit sad really, they used to brew bloody good cask ale.

SteveF said...

I think there are lines which shouldn't be crossed, after all you're only trying to sell beer.

Well possibly, but I guess my general point was that if you are going to cross a line and shock people, at least try and do it in a funny and interesting way. I suppose they'd argue that while they alienate some people, more people like the Brewdog brand so it doesn't matter. I guess the counter is how long will that strategy prove fruitful?

As for the article, I think it's a bit more than the usual Brewdog rhetoric. Sure they've slagged off CAMRA and "boring brown beer" before. But to me that looks pretty much like an attack on all other British brewers. Which is a step beyond previous comments. And a moronic one.

Personally, I think you can be edgy and provocative (if that's the approach you see as working for you) and yet still not come across as a complete dick.

Oh well. I'll probably visit the new bar in Camden and will definitely drink their beer on occasion. But ultimately I'd rather be at the Southampton, drinking beers from the myriad of other great British brewers out there.

wowninjas said...

If it ever comes down to having to only drink BrewDog or every other brewery beer out there I think I know what I'd choose.

Eddie86 said...

It almost appears Brew Dog are getting boring now m SOSDD

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