Know-How Exchange : Branding

What KIND of drink? Beer? Wine, Hard liquor? Bottled? Canned? Boxed? Retail? Bar-based? Aimed at which kind of drinker? Young? middle aged? Mature? Connoisseur? Casual drinker? Social drinker? Mixed with what? Served how? Branded and pitched in order to appeal to whom?

Depends how you want to promote it. What are the qualities of the alcohol that you want to bring out? Taste? Brand Power? Strength ?

Depending on your objective, some thing can be worked out.

Are you a manufacturer, distributor, retailer, marketing agency, other? How is the brand positioned? Where?

Either you sell on taste ( taste tests, promotions) or you sell on lifestyle (party, excitement, prestige, luxury)

In the UK you'd look at on-trade (selling in bars and restaurants) differently to off-trade (selling through stores and supermarkets). If you focus on the on-trade sales you have to help the bar owner - what's going to help him/her sell more and make more money without requiring lots of extra work? This might include signage, glassware, promotions (being careful because local alcohol laws might prohibit some activities), pre-mixes, supporting the bar's own marketing, sponsoring bar events etc. To support the on-trade activities you'll need to reach consumers to make the drink seem desirable which is a lot about pure communication skills and can get expensive quickly. You also have to think about which types of on-trade you want to support. What's the demographics of the drinkers you want to sell to? For whisky for instance you might want to be in golf clubs, while for flavoured vodkas maybe upmarket nightclubs.

For off-trade sales (stores and supemarkets) it will partly depend on why people will be buying. Some spirits for instance are mainly bought at Christmas or as presents - hence lots of advertising in November or December. Beers and wines may be bought year-round. Presence on the shelf through packaging will be particularly important. It's difficult to promote alcohols online or on TV because of advertising laws, so outdoor, print media and sponsorship may be your only communication options.

Have you thought about offering plastic stadium cups that are printed with your logo and website on them? These are fairly inexpensive and a pretty affordable way to get them into the hands of your target customers. A few places that offer this are https://www.customizedstadiumcups.com or https://www.printapromo.com or https://www.staples.com. When approaching bars you can either offer them for free or just cover your costs (or maybe even make a little money on them). That might open some doors and they might then be willing to offer your drinks then or at a future date when once you have established a trusting business relationship.