Craft Beer Marketing. Do You Have to be First, Best, or Unique to Succeed?

This thesis deals with the interplay of marketing and design in the craft brewing industry in Finland. The goal was to figure out what craft brewers do to successfully market their products. The thesis first explains that craft beer is different from generic beer in that it is uncompromising in its ingredients, special flavours, and sole focus on the beer rather than stock prices. Craft breweries use grassroots and guerrilla marketing tactics. They are heavily involved in social media marketing and keep close ties to their customers to get face to face feedback. The method was a case study of three Finnish craft breweries performed by interviews with: Maku Brewing, Fat Lizard Brewing Co., and Iso Kallan Panimo. The hypothesis was that a craft brewer must be first, best, or unique in order to be successful but it was proven not entirely true. While the above statement is true initially, the keys to succeeding as a craft brewery are a focus on quality, commitment, knowledge, perseverance, and a crystal clear brand. The craft brewer needs a quality product with the attitude and passion to succeed. Consumers of craft beer are buying into the feeling and the passion behind the brand. They may drink craft beer to be part of a community, have the best quality they can get, or be part of something new and exciting. Marketing and design of craft beer are irrefutably linked because the customer is buying more than just the liquid in the bottle; they are buying an experience. The future of craft beer in Finland is bright as can be seen by new craft breweries popping up each year and the selection of craft beer in stores and bars continuously expanding. Future studies of craft beer and marketing could be designing marketing plans for up and coming breweries, studying why the craft beer trend began, or looking into marketing craft beer when (if) the market becomes saturated