Creating America's Craft Brew Destination

A Focus On Niche Marketing

TAPPING INTO A TRAVEL NICHE

ABC takes a big-picture approach to niche marketing. After several successful campaigns, the agency understands the importance of finding that unique selling point that makes a place – any place – unique.

Any location, regardless of size, can take on a niche campaign that gives a destination an experience capable of drawing from well beyond the borders of New York state or even the country.

ABC considered all the trends and evidence to begin brewing up a campaign. It just so happens Central New York not only hosts well-known and exceptional upstart breweries, it also has a rich history and emerging flavors like hard cider sure to attract connoisseurs from across the nation and beyond.

Brew Central brands Central New York as “America’s Craft Brew Destination,” toasting the area’s rich hop history and current brew renaissance with a complete marketing and communications campaign.

Central New York includes many great attractions with national and even international appeal, but the key draws share nothing or little in common.

ABC’s observations and research for longtime client the Central New York Travel Region (part of state-level I Love New York) led ABC to notice a couple of things.

First, traditional tourism marketing suggests capitalizing on the big draws, a broadcasting of the assortment of attractions that put it on the map. The collateral, advertising and digital assets all focus on location. But, location on its own is not a brand.

A brand demands more than a place on a map. It’s the experience that defines the destination, not a collection of varied attractions.

Successful campaigns carve a niche, focusing on an area’s strongest assets to craft the experience modern travelers crave. While sights still make up a key travel component and fuel the economic viability of the tourism industry, trends suggest that tourists seek itineraries that speak more directly to their interests.

ABC understands that travelers seek an experience. Tourists want to share stories with friends and followers on social media. ABC research and experience with the CNYFresh agritourism campaign revealed food and beverage as key draws for travelers who want to immerse themselves in local culture.

Second, trails have evolved into a popular way to experience those local features such as food, history and, in this case, beer, hard cider and spirits. So, ABC set out to carve the niche that would give Central New York a strong identity as a New York state destination for travelers in Canada, the Northeast and Europe, where I Love New York markets heavily.

The U.S. craft brewing market has trended upward for more than a decade. In just the past five years, craft brewers’ market share has jumped more than 4 percent and the industry grossed $14.3 billion in 2013 (a 20 percent increase from 2012). Demand remains high as the United States is now home to more than 3,000 craft breweries – the most since the 1870s.
In addition to the industry data, ABC also knew brew fans – particularly beer lovers – travel. Numbers from one of America’s most popular brew fests, the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver, indicated 37 percent of the 49,000 attendees traveled more than 500 miles to be there.

A brand demands more than a place on a map. It’s the experience that defines the destination, not a collection of varied
attractions.

BUILDING THE BRAND

ABC created a complete identity for Brew Central as a standalone place, not just a part of the larger Central New York region. To do this, ABC drew in aspects of history and the current renaissance of all things brew that merit staking the claim Brew Central is America’s Craft Brew Destination.

It was important from the beginning that the campaign has a grassrootsy feel, rather than something coming from a typical government-funded tourism entity. ABC focused on the stories of the brewers, distillers and publicans, whose passion for the product and personalities make Brew Central an experience.

CALLING ALL BREWERS

ABC set out to unite more than 65 producers and pubs behind the new initiative. Between direct mail, e-communications and phone calls, ABC reached out to each and every one in multiple ways with information about what Brew Central is, why they are involved and what benefits they could expect to see. Later e-communications kept membership updated on the campaign’s success.

ABC counts on these producers to help spread the word about the initiative. Due to the buzz and excitement introduced to the brewer community, many are happy to take collateral along to brew fests throughout the region and in feeder markets like New York City. One major brewery even donated space at its popular location at the Great New York State Fair.

TELLING THE BREW CENTRAL STORY

AT IT’S CORE, MARKETING REVOLVES AROUND STORYTELLING.

People love hearing stories and love to tell their own even more, especially when it comes to travel. Naturally, it became a focal point of the campaign.

From scheduling marathon shoots to traveling throughout Central New York, ABC handled the entire process. The shoots generated stunning photography for the print ads and website as well as great video to share socially.

ABC knew it wanted to capture the stories, so on-site interviews with featured brewers and content development were critical to the project’s success.

ABC produced the “Stories on Tap” series of print ads for national publications including Beer Advocate, All About Beer, Beer Connoisseur, Craft Beer and Brewing, and Zymurgy, the official publication of the American Homebrewers Association. ABC also placed ads in regional beer publications that reach into the Midwest and Northeast, including Ale Street News, Great Lakes Brewing News and Yankee Brew News.

Finally, the campaign reached into neighboring New York regions via leisure publications like Life in the Finger Lakes, Upstate Traveler, Food Traveler, Edible Hudson Valley and assorted New York City community newspapers. ABC strategically placed Brew Central ads near editorial content about beer and spirits in those magazines.

ABC also placed digital ads on key craft beer websites like beeradvocate.com and craftbeer.com. Those were complemented by geo- and behavior-targeted ads on the Web and social media.

From the beginning of the campaign, ABC chose to focus on the people as well as the products. So, the images and video incorporate those personalities that really make a visit to Brew Central an experience.

MAKING A WEB DESTINATION

The site was established as the centerpiece and gateway for brew fans ABC drew from print and digital advertising as well as social media.

The ABC-developed website at brewcentralny.com houses producer listings, news and events.

Brewers provide much of the content for these sections. ABC continues to maintain the website by posting these news and event items, adding more “Stories of Tap” with copy and video generated in house, and keeping the look, feel and functionality of the site up to date.

Visitors can plan a trip to Brew Central through an interactive map that allows the user to select and locate the type of brew they are most interested in. This “Brewfinder” also allows users to map out a brew “road trip.”

Brew Central is about more than tastings. ABC consistently communicates that visitors can actually meet and talk with brewers, distillers and craft pub proprietors. It’s the history of the region itself and the stories that make the campaign compelling.

IN THE FIRST 6 MONTHS, MORE THAN

VISITORS HAD RACKED UP MORE THAN

PAGE VIEWS

At the same time, ABC launched Facebook and Twitter accounts that accumulated hundreds of followers within months and became key referral sources for the site. A YouTube channel hosting the 17-episode “Stories on Tap” webseries was added to the social media mix as was an image-rich Instagram account, giving fans and followers many different methods for learning the “Stories on Tap.”

Brew Central

POURING CREATIVITY INTO COLLATERAL

Collateral consisting of pint-shaped rack cards, Brew Central pint glasses to put them in, promotional bottle openers and pub-style wooden plaques identifying a business as a “Proud Member of” the initiative were distributed by the county partners to the producers across the region.

ABC developed trail maps and travel show displays as well.

This outreach furthered buy-in from brewers and gave Brew Central a strong presence within the region. Signs and collateral let existing travelers know they could take a self-guided tour of the region’s brew attractions while in the area or, better yet, on a future trip.

The Central New York Travel Region uses the brewing partners to have invaluable presence at large events like the Great New York
State Fair, TAP NY Beer Festival and the Central New York Brewfest.

PITCHING THE PRESS

Press relations were critical for the initiative operating on a relatively small budget. ABC developed infographic-style pitch sheets for several I Love New York travel writer events that ABC staff also attended on behalf of the client.

In addition, ABC created media-rich press kits delivered in the form of business-card-sized USBs that include the pitch sheets and video.

The marketing strategy for Brew Central and the Central New York Travel Region began with the search for niche publications that would offer the most value for reaching the target audience, craft beer and regional publications in New York City, the Capital Region and Finger Lakes among them.

While deciding on placement for print, digital and online video ads, the PR arm of ABC’s strategy team spotted plenty of opportunity for coverage.

Francis Vachon from thecelebritycafe.com, an entertainment site with more than 8.5 million unique visitors each month, traveled to Brew Central and wrote extensively about his experience. Joe Bauer came on assignment for craftbeer.com, a top resource for the craft community, to write about the hop and beer resurgence in Madison County.

ABC attracted journalists from the national publication Ale Street News and the write-ups extended the reach to the target demographic.

Some 90,000 readers thumbed the pages of an issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine that included a piece on Brew Central. The nine-page featured “Beercation” undoubtedly attracted numerous eyes and thousands more via the website. Still more scanned posts, tweets and images on social media.

ABC leveraged ad placement to get e-blasts out to the brew community via Draft, Beer Connoisseur and Brew Your
Own magazines.

PITCHING THE PRESS

Press relations were critical for the initiative operating on a relatively small budget. ABC developed infographic-style pitch sheets for several I Love New York travel writer events that ABC staff also attended on behalf of the client.

In addition, ABC created media-rich press kits delivered in the form of business-card-sized USBs that include the pitch sheets and video.

Francis Vachon from thecelebritycafe.com, an entertainment site with more than 8.5 million unique visitors each month, traveled to Brew Central and wrote extensively about his experience. Joe Bauer came on assignment for craftbeer.com, a top resource for the craft community, to write about the hop and beer resurgence in Madison County.

ABC attracted journalists from the national publication Ale Street News and the write-ups extended the reach to the target demographic.

ABC leveraged ad placement to get e-blasts out to the brew community via Draft, Beer Connoisseur and Brew Your
Own magazines.

RESULTS

The Brew Central campaign grew exponentially when the Central New York Travel Region won a $500,000 state grant. ABC helped craft the grant application, successfully making the argument that Brew Central deserves a major boost to make it the worthy national destination it is.

ABC poured the grant money into expansion of content development that gives the website a definitive feel and gives the agency plenty of items to fuel engagement on social media.

This influx of content on the website also grows search engine optimization as ABC targets travelers looking for “brew trails” and unique experiences. In addition, the copy and video provides our public relations team with great stories just waiting to be told by bloggers and journalists.

The Craft Beer and Brewing article earned some $30,000 in ad value, almost twice what the client invested in traditional print placement in the same publication and nearly 60 percent worth of the overall media budget for all forms of advertising in 2016.

Traveler spending jumped $75 million between 2014 and 2015 to an unprecedented total of nearly $2.1 billion, according to a statewide study by Tourism Economics. The 3.7 percent increase in tourism spending builds off the 4.7 percent ($90.8 million) boost that the Central New York Vacation Region saw between 2013 and 2014.

In 2015, nearly 22 percent, or about $464 million, of traveler spending went to food and beverage – second only to lodging (26 percent) and higher than four other categories, including retail/services (20 percent) and recreation (19 percent).

THE PRINT SERIES TOOK HOME NATIONAL COMMUNICATOR AWARDS IN THE DESIGN, COPY, MAGAZINE AD AND CAMPAIGN CATEGORIES.

THE “STORIES ON TAP” WEBSERIES EARNED A TELLY AWARD IN NATIONAL COMPETITION.

THE U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION DESTINATIONS COUNCIL RECOGNIZED BREW CENTRAL AS THE BEST “BRANDING AND INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN” IN THE COUNTRY FOR ITS BUDGET RANGE.

MOST RECENTLY, THE NEW YORK STATE TOURISM INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION CHOSE BREW CENTRAL AS RECIPIENT OF THE
EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM MARKETING AWARD IN THE REGIONAL CATEGORY.

ABC takes pride in proclaiming “There are good ideas and bad ideas. We just know the difference.” The account managers and creative team constantly come to clients new and old with fresh ideas. Brew Central has been one of the best so far and ABC intends to keep it growing year after year.