If there’s one thing the craft beverage industry does well, it is thinking creatively. Even with limited resources, breweries, and cideries find inventive ways to stand out among their competition and appeal to new customers. At Ekos, we’ve witnessed this incredible work for years and thought it was finally time to recognize the best cider and beer marketing campaigns.
We launched the first annual Crafty Marketing Awards this spring and were overwhelmed with nominations for innovative marketing, social media, design and event campaigns. Our judges’ panel of industry experts had a hard task of choosing winners, but ultimately 11 craft breweries and cideries were selected.
Note: Make sure to also check out who was featured for the best cider & beer marketing campaigns of 2021.
Alvarium Beer Company
Best use of social media
Alvarium’s Instagram feed is full of professional-quality photos, fun and witty captions, and important information about products and how to purchase. Alvarium’s social media manager was nominated by her team for single-handedly managing the brewery’s social channels, in addition to her other responsibilities managing staff, schedules and ordering.
Bentonville Brewing
Creative video production
Bentonville Brewing is having a lot of fun (maybe a little too much fun) with video. They created two videos for product launches – an animated video promo, “Space Goose & the Escape from Galactic Prison” and a music video for their Amber Lager that parodied the song “I Saw a Tiger” from Netflix’s Tiger King. On a more serious note, Bentonville Brewing also released a video to promote their new facility and give customers an idea of what to expect in the new space.
Crying Eagle Brewing Company
Best product launch
In 2019, Crying Eagle launched the Things Unsettled Hazy IPA. The name had a double meaning: the unsettled nature of a Hazy IPA and the underlying battle between big beer and craft. The packaging features a battle between two knights in a throwback video game style. To promote the release, Crying Eagle created a teaser video with graphics straight out of an old-school video game.
East Brother Beer Co
Best product launch
In response to COVID-19, the East Brother team came together to discuss how they could support their community. They developed the Pride and Purpose Beer, created for and powered by the community. The entire beer marketing campaign was design by Good Beer Hunting to feature taproom regulars and proceeds from sales of the beer supported local organizations. Pride and Purpose is going to be featured in an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition!
Gate City Brewing Co.
Outstanding charitable campaign
Gate City’s team of female brewers, designers and marketers created the Freedom Fighter IPA beer marketing campaign to fight against human trafficking in Atlanta. For each beer sold, $1 was donated to local Atlanta non-profits rescuing girls from trafficking. To promote the beer, Gate City hosted a release party and fundraising events and even got placement on Delta Airlines flights during Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Heart of Darkness
Best packaging design
Heart of Darkness is a Vietnam-based brewery that is no stranger to winning awards for its delicious and creative beers. Their logos and packaging are bold, unique and beautifully designed and were praised by the Crafty Marketing Awards judges.
Hi-Wire Brewing
Best overall campaign
To support the hospitality industry during COVID-19, Hi-Wire Brewing introduced a “Beer for Good” to benefit service industry workers. With a straight-forward message that was communicated on cans and across
Minneapolis Cider Co.
Best use of social media
Minneapolis Cider Co created the #SomethingtoCelebrate campaign to recognize the good in the world, even during the difficult times in 2020. The team created a campaign kick-off video and encouraged their community to share stories of celebration (graduations, engagements, friendships, new jobs, etc.) on social media. Minneapolis Cider amplified stories on social and sent cider to help people celebrate at home.
No Label Brewing
Best event
In 2020, traditional in-person events aren’t possible. But with the switch to curbside pickup, No Label Brewing saw an opportunity to connect with the community and do more than just sell beer. They ordered masks to give to customers and frontline workers who visited the brewery. In the first few days, the line outside to get a mask and buy beer was over a mile long. No Label has distributed thousands of masks since the beginning of the pandemic.
Other Half Brewing Co.
Best overall campaign
Other Half Brewing started a worldwide beer collaboration called All Together to bring the craft beer community together during COVID-19. The idea was a collaboration that anyone could participate in, with 100% of the proceeds going to support out-of-work hospitality workers. To date, more than 850 breweries in 53 countries and all 50 states have participated.
Wallenpaupack Brewing Co.
Innovative beer marketing campaign
To keep sales coming in during COVID-19, the Wallenpaupack team got creative with two sales promotions. The first was a 14-day quarantine pack with a beer for each day of quarantine. The campaign included daily videos, social posts and a $5 charitable donation for each purchase. The team also created at-home beer dinners with food and beer pairings that allowed the brewery to increase both beer and food sales.
