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Beer Is Everywhere People Are

"Find out where people are going-and buy land before they get there." This quotation attributed to American Cherokee leader and Confederate Colonel William Penn Adair is from more than 150 years ago. Perhaps never, though, has a more poignant mantra for marketing been captured in one phrase.

For Side Launch Brewing Company, the award-winning craft brewery based in Collingwood, Ontario, being the best beer where people are going is a parallel philosophy. If marketing is about the discovery and satisfaction of customer needs, Side Launch, as founder Garnet Pratt suggests, wants to be the beer companion that marks these occasions, both good and bad, that accompany people through the milestones of their life. "When you think about the journey of your adult life, beer is just there, humbly being a part of it. Weddings, funerals, graduations, and birthdays. It's there even in your more routine activities. It's also waiting for you after you've mowed the lawn or had a hard day at work. It's there when you're among friends, or alone, it's just there. If you're a beer drinker, why wouldn't you want that beer to be the best beer?"

Marketing is accomplished when value is exchanged. Value is the solution to a need. But needs, as we'll discuss throughout the book, are not always obvious, nor do we even always know we have them. They sometimes knock us over the head with a direct and vivid message: "I'm hungry-feed me." But sometimes those needs will be encrypted in feelings that are less obvious: "I'm vulnerable-comfort me."

The latter is one of an infinite number of reasons for the rapid growth in popularity of craft beer. "The beer market has changed," asserts Chuck Galea, VP Sales and Marketing, "primarily because beer drinkers have changed. They are more sophisticated and know what really good beer tastes like. People now choose a beer to go along with a season, or an occasion, or even a food group. It's the new wine, you know, where there are beer tastings and beer food pairings. And Side Launch is right there now. We're getting in people's hands, they're trying us, they're liking us, and they're helping to tell our story."

Founding brewer Michael Hancock refers to his beers as "accessible." "My tagline for our Dark Lager is that it's the dark beer for people who don't think they like dark beer. Our Wheat Beer often appeals to people who may not even like beer; you know, it was called 'banana beer' when it first came out as it had a totally different flavour profile due to the low level of hops." Michael knows of what he speaks-being one of the true pioneers of wheat beer brewing in all of North America. "Michael is the keeper of quality," adds Dave Sands, VP Operations, who has a pedigree of beer industry expertise, stemming from a formal postsecondary brewing education and over 12 years working with the two biggest beer conglomerates in the world (Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson-Coors). "We start with the basis of a quality culture, which sets a level of expectation among the basic things. You find the best ingredients from the best suppliers and mix them with the highest standards of production-it's like cooking-you're going to end up with a fundamentally better product."

You'll be reading about Side Launch in a continuing case study throughout this book, as we view each chapter concept through the lens of Side Launch Brewing Company. You'll learn how, as Garnet puts it, Side Launch makes a product that is "approachable and drinkable" but is also "made well, and packaged well, delivered well, and sold well." But don't just take her word for it. Witness the wild 300 percent growth over its first three years, tuck in a handful of nationally sought-after beer awards, and mix in a healthy dose of consistently high beer reviews among the most influential ratings sites, and you'll soon see that the story of Side Launch is a story in marketing.

1. What is the "need" being satisfied through the sale of beer?

2. Is there anything different about the product (beer) that the Side Launch Brewing Company makes that pursues a more specific need?

3. What are some of the initial things you might consider to be a part of the Side Launch value proposition?