Sunday, February 13, 2011

Pabst Blue Renaissance

“What did you guys get to drink?”
“Blue Moon.”
“PBR.”
“So you’re a girl, and you’re a hipster?”

That was a small segment of a conversation held between myself, Ben Pratt, and Randall Bourquin after ordering drinks at the AMA Collegiate Mixer in Atlanta. I had the PBR. Little did I know that my PBR would come in a 16oz tallboy can; thus ensuring that my business casual attire, and any chance I had of looking professional, would be cancelled out by the aluminum beacon in my hand screaming out, “White trash! Right here!” I digress. Before I came to UGA, I had always thought of PBR as the average, working man, American choice of beer. Over the last year or so, I had slowly become accustomed to PBR being the retro-chic and trendy choice of the “hipster” crowd. However, though I am far from a hipster, my loyalty to this brand has not wavered, despite months of ridicule. Randall’s comment got me thinking, though, “What happened? When did this all change? When did PBR replace blue collar and become the official beer of flannel, tight jeans, and vintage clothing?” This is what I found…


For starters, let’s get acquainted with this fine brand and its past and present: Pabst Brewing Company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1844. The beer was originally called Best Select and then Pabst select, but was renamed to Pabst Blue Ribbon in 1893 for the blue ribbons tied around the bottlenecks from 1882-1916. Sales of PBR peaked in 1977 with a production of over 18 million barrels a year. It then steadily declined and in 2001, production fell below one million barrels a year.[i] In the early 2000’s, PBR received a boost in sales from an unlikely source—“alternative people”.[ii]

            These “alternative people”, also known affectionately as hipsters, punks, or other non-conforming subcultures, started consuming the product in mass. Wait a second, how did this subculture adopt the brand and product that former Pabst CEO Brian Kovalchuk deemed an “authentic American beer for the average American”?[iii] Pabst was focused on its target market of the 45-60 year old demographic and seemingly would never intentionally target a demographic that appears the exact opposite of their original target. So again, how did this come to fruition? The answer is pretty simple—they didn’t intend for it to happen, it just did. After some thorough research, Pabst determined the revival indeed stemmed from the Northwest, the lovely birth of the Grunge scene (sound and look familiar?). They also determined that the people who like and embraced the brand detested traditional marketing. Kovalchuk worried that the hipsters might “jeopardize the authenticity” of the brand, but its current CEO, Kevin Kotecki, decided to take a proactive approach to the situation.
            After understanding why and how the hipster and other alternative subcultures had developed a loyalty to their brand, Pabst did what every other company would do in its situation—capitalize on it. Through additional research, Pabst made sure it had a solid understanding of the hipster demographic and took proactive steps in their marketing. Ask yourself this, “When was the last time you saw a PBR commercial or big promotional event?” If you're my age, the answer is most likely never. For those who might have a few more wrinkles, your answer would probably be around the late 70's or early 80's. The beer industry in the US spends around $1 billion per year to pitch its products, while Pabst spends a tiny fraction of that. It decided it would be wise to do nothing, or at least appear to do nothing, in order to keep their image for these groups. And it definitely stuck to its guns: Pabst turned down endorsements from Kid Rock and other famous musical artists and passed on the opportunity to be a sponsor of major snowboarding and other action sports events.[iv] Pabst didn’t follow traditional marketing strategies and redesign the package, or create new ads with their target audience featured when a brand picks up steam; it decided to let the consumers lead the brand. It counted on one of the oldest forms of marketing, word of mouth, to sway those beer consumers whose loyalty was up for grabs.


            In 2001, Pabst inked an outsourcing deal with beer industry-titan Miller Brewing Company. One would think this would have spelled the end of PBR’s revival before it even got started. Instead, statistics show that since 2002, sales have increased 9.4%.[v] So the collaboration with a company that would seem to be all that these alternative groups loathe resulted in a positive effect. This probably attributes to the fact that the younger generation, Generation Y, is wise to marketing and business deals and understands that a deal such as the one made with Miller Brewing Co. doesn’t have an effect on how Pabst will be run or how its image will be managed.

            So back to the original question that sent me off on this wondrous journey through marketing strategies, research, and the understanding of Pabst Blue Ribbon, “Why and how did PBR develop this cult-like following from the hipster crowd?” It’s a combination of several factors: Cheap prices having a positive influence during the recession; the constantly cash-strapped college drinkers and those in their 20’s demographic; brand and lack of mainstream image appealing to the hipsters; and loyal consumer endorsements. The main component of PBR’s revival, however, is that Pabst made a conscious effort to understand their drinkers and adapted to them through a consumer-driven marketing campaign. And if more drinkers take the approach of self-proclaimed punk and avid PBR drinker Phil Barnes, who said, “The only thing that’s going to stop me from drinking Pabst is when I die,” PBR may just return back to its former glory. As for me, I will never grow my facial hair into thick sideburn chops or wear jeans that constrict my blood flow, but I will happily continue to take the abuse I receive for drinking PBR. And it’s not because of its marketing strategy, although I do respect Pabst more now that I’ve uncovered the secret to its revival; it’s simply because it’s cheap, not horribly detestable, and I’ve been doing it for a few years now and am too stubborn to change.


[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pabst_Blue_Ribbon
[ii] Walker, Rob. "The Marketing of No Marketing - New York Times." The New York Times -    Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 22 June 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/magazine/the-marketing-of-no-marketing.html?src=pm.
[iii] Walker, Rob. "The Marketing of No Marketing - New York Times." The New York Times -    Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 22 June 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/magazine/the-marketing-of-no-marketing.html?src=pm .
[iv] Walker, Rob. "The Marketing of No Marketing - New York Times." The New York Times -    Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 22 June 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/magazine/the-marketing-of-no-marketing.html?src=pm.
[v] Baskin, Jonathan S. "Could Pabst Be Too Cool? | Futurelab – We Are Marketing and Customer Strategy Consultants with a Passion for Profit and Innovation." Futurelab | We Are Marketing and Customer Strategy Consultants with a Passion for Profit and Innovation. 1 June 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. http://www.futurelab.net/blogs/marketing-strategy-innovation/2010/06/could_pabst_be_too_cool.html.

No comments:

Post a Comment