The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) has launched a new awareness campaign to help drinkers better identify independent beer. The "Behind every great Aussie indie" initiative tells indie beer’s story, helps people spot an indie beer, and encourages them to ask for one wherever they go.
The campaign includes a revamped Ask For Indie Beer website and various videos that don't just encourage consumers to look for the independent seal but also explain how independent breweries are small businesses that innovate, create jobs and build community.
The IBA’s head of marketing and communications, Kelly Falconer, says that, beyond the digital approach, the organisation’s members have been provided with a range of tools to help spread the word.
“All our member breweries have received coasters, posters, and tap talkers,” she says. “So once the consumer sees it in the digital realm, which is predominantly where it is, they then can then walk into breweries and have that recognition.
“They're also a conversation starter on what the independent seal means, what is indie and why it’s important to a member brewery.”
The new website includes a map to help drinkers find indie beer in their own community or when on the road, along with a news feed of recent and relevant stories from The Crafty Pint.
“It’s great to push people to say, ‘Find the seal’ on a can, but they need to be able to find the brewery," Kelly says. "So, the call to action is to find the seal and to show where they’re located; here’s where our members are, plan your weekend away, go check out a new one and enjoy a brewery trail.”
The campaign has been in the works for several years and follows a consumer research project undertaken for the IBA by KPMG. Kelly says their insights indicated that supporting community-focused and locally-owned businesses matters to Australians despite drinkers not always understanding the difference between craft beer owned by a multinational and that produced by an independent business.
“COVID really emphasised the importance of hyper-local and supporting local community," Kelly says." "Yes, the flavour and the taste is the number one driver for consumers, but knowing and connecting to the brands and the faces behind the story is really important too.”
The campaign was designed by an Australian-owned business, the agency LOUD. She says it was important for the IBA to work with an operation that supports local artists through their work, whether they're songwriters, producers or illustrators, adding that, while the feedback has already been positive, this is just the start of a very long campaign.
“When we put the tender out to the agency, it was about being at least a three-year plan," Kelly says. "We’re not looking at this three months and then that’s it, we’ll have another campaign leading into Christmas. Then we'll do more research, evolve and continue to develop it.”
To find out more about the research that went into the new campaign, listen to the recording below. This presentation was part of the IBA's Technical Symposium which took place as part of The High Country Hop in Beechworth that was run by Bridge Road Brewers.
View on Zencastr
You can check out the Ask For Indie Beer campaign here. Details on the Independent Seal and its usage guide can be found here.
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
