Cream Ale AleBlazers

All craft beer claims originality, but the truth is, Cream Ale is one of three original American beer styles. And as Americans are drinking less and less beer, we needed to own this originality with an honestly creative approach to get more millennials to know us and choose us—in our own backyard and new ones—without traditional advertising.

Cream Ale: Ale Blazers - Washington D.C.

Cream Ale: Ale Blazers - Philadelphia, PA

More of a watcher than a reader? We got you. Here’s an overview case study video of the AleBlazers campaign.

More of a watcher than a reader? We got you.
D.C.—Nekisha Durrett
Boston—Boston Barber & Tattoo Co.
Nashville—Graci Phillips
Philly—Pizza Brain
BKLYN—Brooklyn Motor Works
Rochester—Dean Jones

Connecting with our audience about more than beer

Spreading awareness by driving connection

For marketing-adverse millennials who want to feel as though they set their own tune, we crafted and curated meaningful experiences and content. We celebrated true AleBlazers through authentic brand storytelling featuring the spirited people who are making their own path and whose taste for life is as unique as Cream Ale.

Cream Ale: Ale Blazers - Landing Page Design

Pivoting from Advertiser to Publisher

Cream Ale didn’t compete on the usual ads and media spend; that’s not original. We turned to crafting human-centric stories of unexpected people, places and makers—think barbers, tattoo artists, pizza curators, chop shop mechanics and fingerboard artists—through video, illustration, photography and editorial stories. All delivered in an agile manner through the channels our audience already hangs out in—social and digital. Plus, a printed zine and a flexi-record of tracks from the bands featured on our AleBlazers tour satisfied our audience’s craving for tangible analog content.

Sales growth in core regions:

+ 18%

Sales growth in expansion markets:

+ 8%

Nashville—Eric Van HoutenThis artist knows that music connects people and that having a unique voice is how to build fans. Cheers to that.

Nashville—Eric Van Houten
D.C.—Inner Ear Studio
Philly—Wild Adriatic
Boston—Lian Leng
Rochester—Brewing Today

Engagement increase:

40x

Video plays:

1 m+

Cream Ale: Ale Blazers - Social Media Content

Exceeding benchmarks & trends

In a market where originality is overclaimed, we delivered. And in a category that is flat on its best day, we punched hard. We rewrote the rules of the engagement playbook with tactics our audience welcomed into their lives. We combined engaging content, paid promotion and on-site tastings in both current and expansion markets, driving 18% sales growth in existing markets and 8% sales growth in expansion markets.