• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 14, 2011

Craft beers' appeal has always resided in their distinctive, individualistic tastes and identities. That's certainly true for Breckenridge Brewery of Colorado -- which, in an unusual move for a craft brewer, is running regional TV ads that spotlight those characteristics by spoofing big beer brands' advertising.

While the company is headquartered in Denver and distributed in 32 states, the brand is very much associated with the Colorado skiing scene, and many first quaff its beers in its ski-slope-adjacent brew pub in Breckenridge. (Distribution was recently expanded into Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland and Washington, D.C.)

Like many craft brewers, Breckenridge generally has relied on grassroots marketing far more than traditional media -- sponsoring or hosting festivals and events, speaking to targeted consumer and trade groups and in recent years, leveraging social media as well as its site.

But the significant upswing in craft beer sales in general, and Breckenridge's own rapid growth -- the 21-year-old brewery saw its North American sales leap 22% last year to about $9 million, and sales are up 47% through April of this year -- seemed to call for some marketing innovation to leverage the momentum, Breckenridge brewmaster and general manager Todd Usry tells Marketing Daily.

"The craft beer revolution is on," declares Usry. "As has happened with some food categories and coffee, people have come to view craft beers as affordable luxuries or quality-of-life enhancers during a difficult economic period."

The challenge, of course, is optimizing a small marketing budget. This year, Breckenridge -- 45th in size among the 1,800 U.S. craft breweries (with projected 2011 production of 40,000-plus barrels) -- is enhancing its grassroots and print efforts with four, 15-second "Truth in Beervertising" spots.

Broadcast-wise, the commercials are airing only on Fox 31 Colorado news, Broncos football and Sunday prime time mid-May through June. But they are realizing reach far beyond that because of their deadpan humor.

With a production budget of just $10,000 and the assistance of Fox 31's production capabilities, Breckenridge and its agency, Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design, created spots that are now being picked up and buzzed about among beer-lovers nationwide. "Beer bloggers and critics have jumped all over these spots, so we're getting a lot of play and viral action," says Usry. "So far, there are direct links to our videos on about 14 beer-oriented sites."

The videos are being promoted on Breckenridge's Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as publicized by Cultivator.

Usry did the voiceovers for all of the spots, which feature Breckenridge head brewer Bob Harrington as the on-camera "talent." One describes Breckenridge's seasonal SummerBright Ale as "the perfect summer beer," then (lampooning some mass beer brands' cold-indicator technology) discloses Breckenridge's "proprietary" cold test: Harrington touches the bottle and pronounces: "It's cold." On-screen graphics anticlimactically proclaim: "If you touch it and it's cold, then it's cold."

Another spot touts the brewer's Avalanche Ale's "gravity activated pouring" technology: "When you tip it, beer goes straight into your mouth. When you tip it back, the beer stops flowing -- genius." A third spot explains that "cold is not a flavor," and points out that "swirly bottlenecks" serve only to make a beer..."swirly?" The fourth notes that while "the big boys" brag that their beers contain three hops, Breckenridge's Lucky UIPA is proudly "seven-druple hopped."

While post-college-age male beer drinkers are the main target audience for the campaign, Usry says that he's "amazed" by how popular the crafts -- "even the big, hoppy beers and stouts" -- have become among young adult women.

This is Breckenridge's second foray into regional television. A 2009 spot spoofed Coors' "mountain water" claim by asking: "Do you know what bears do in these [mountain streams]"? That one got significant viewership/play on YouTube and in social media, encouraging Breckenridge to do this year's spots, says Usry.

In addition, Breckenridge ads are running in hybrid consumer/trade publications including All About Beer and Draft, as well as in targeted local print media.