BrewDog Aims to Convert a Million IPA Fans Through ‘World’s Biggest’ Beer Tasting

Independent craft brewery, BrewDog, has just launched an audacious campaign to deliver a million pints of its flagship Punk IPA to convert new craft beer drinkers.

Over the next four weeks, the Aberdeenshire brewery intends to give away 1 million beers- enough to fill over 7000 bathtubs – in the world’s biggest ever beer sampling campaign. The brewer is accompanying the release of 1million pints with the audacious statement of ‘Don’t believe the hype’, as it looks to affirm its popularity via the experience of Punk IPA alone.

The brewery is certain that all who try the beer will become converts to the craft beer cause. So BrewDog’s campaign, suggests that people “Don’t buy the advertising”, “Don’t believe the hype” and rather to try the beer and make up their own minds.

With a healthy dose of irony, the campaign, created by independent creative agency isobel, uses a variety of social, digital, press and outdoor channels to communicate this message.

As the popularity of IPA (India Pale Ale) grows, BrewDog predicts it will overtake lager as the UK’s favourite beer style in the next ten years. BrewDog’s million-beer round is its attempt to accelerate that change, and advance the beer landscape in the UK.

Punk IPA has been the best-selling craft beer in the UK for the last three years and BrewDog is confident it has the ability to add at least a million more drinkers over the next four weeks.

James Watt, BrewDog’s cofounder said: “We’re in the midst of what will be a seismic change in beer drinking habits in the UK. The rise of IPA shows no signs of slowing down. This is a welcome sign that more people are open to beer that is full of flavour and character, and not just insipid, artificially flavoured offerings or faux-craft fraudsters. The millions of people around the UK who call Punk IPA their favourite beer cannot be wrong, that’s why we’re certain a million more will join them after experiencing their first pint of Punk.”

To claim one of the million beers, members of the public are invited to enter their details here. They will then be issued with a beer token that can be taken into any of BrewDog’s 50 bars around the world in return for a pint of Punk IPA. Beers will also be available to be redeemed via BrewDog’s online shop and participating retailers.

Jamie Williams, Partner at isobel, states: “Most beer advertising has become a thing of clichés and empty promises but BrewDog has never been in this camp.  The team believes deeply in the quality of their product, and we always felt the best and most genuine way to recruit new BrewDog drinkers was to give as many people as possible the opportunity to try it.  And one million people sounded like a good number.  As a creative agency, asking people ‘not to buy the advertising’ might sound odd, but we hope people will appreciate this honesty, and judge the beer for themselves.”

In just over a decade, BrewDog has grown from two men and a dog brewing small batches of beer in a garage in Aberdeen to employing almost 1,000 people around the world, and shipping the equivalent of 65 million bottles of beer to over 60 countries annually. This growth has been powered by its record-breaking Equity for Punks crowdfunding initiative, which has seen the brewery raise over £53 million since 2009 from more than 70,000 passionate craft beer fans across Europe and America. Its self-declared mission is ‘to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are.’

James Watt continued: “This is a new chapter in the craft beer revolution. This is all or nothing. This is a million Davids taking on the industrial Goliaths. This is the dawn of a new era for craft beer. Over the past ten years, we’ve helped turn craft beer from a curiosity into a force to be reckoned with. We’ve propelled the movement alongside many breweries that share a similar mission. We’ve been fuelled by the passion of an army of fans that were fed up with the status quo. Today, we declare a new front in the battle for good beer.”

In October 2017, the brewery launched its fifth round of Equity for Punks, looking to raise an initial target of £10million, with a stretch goal of up to £50 million, to further its global growth.

This includes the construction of new breweries in Australia and China, the opening of 15 new craft beer venues in the UK, increasing production capacity in its UK brewery, and the creation of a dedicated craft beer TV network. Equity for Punks V has so far raised over £12 million from more than 27,000 investors across Europe. It is due to close on October 15, 2018.

Source: isobel

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