Genesee Cream Ale Aleblazers
From value to premium in 3 months.
From
A regional mainstay beer with declining share.
To
A new style of go-to beer across the Eastern U.S.
By
Connecting the one-of-a-kind authentic American beer recipe with the street cred of local one-of-a-kind creators.
- Brand Strategy
- Campaign Development
- Web Development
- On-Premise & Retail Promotion
- Social Content Creation
- Collateral
- Campaign Playbook
From value to premium in 3 months.
The U.S. beer category has grown significantly from hundreds to thousands of brewers. Standing out in the category is proving harder and harder, especially as claims of originality across all large and craft beer brands have clouded the market. The reality is, there are only a few truly original American beer styles. Perhaps the most original of the original? Cream Ale.
Genesee Brewing Company’s Cream Ale has been the style’s gold standard since the ’60s. The problem is that not enough people outside our region know that. As the competition has significantly more marketing dollars to spend, we had to go spread the word about Genesee Cream Ale a bit differently. Being a media advertiser wasn’t going to cut it due to our limited marketing budget. To break out and break through, we had to become a media publisher. So that’s what we did.
We took trips—six to be exact—to new expansion markets, making friends who are as original as Genesee Cream Ale. Our mission was to connect like-minded people to each other—giving them the name AleBlazers. Through thousands of photos and hours of footage, we captured stories that were published online, on social, and on paper through a zine, as we knew our audience relishes analog.
Results
+18%
Sales growth in core regions
40x
Engagement increase
+8%
Sales growth in expansion markets
1M+
Video plays
Awards & Recognition
2020 American Advertising Awards – National
Silver – Cream Ale Mash’d Zine
2020 American Advertising Awards – District 2
Gold – Cream Ale Mash’d Zine
Silver – Cream Ale Mash’d Zine
Silver – Integrated Campaign
2020 American Advertising Awards – Greater Rochester
Best of show – Integrated campaign
Best of print – Cream Ale Mash’d Zine
Gold – Cream Ale Mash’d Zine
Gold – Cream Ale Aleblazers ROI
Silver – Cream Ale Aleblazers Social Video Campaign
