A Beer Using Crowd Sourcing?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 24, 2008 at 9:04am

Apologies if I have been harsh with my responses but I do get a bit defensive when the concept is balked at. From our perspective it's important to get you guys on board, not only for participation, but to include you on our progress along the way as quite frankly, realbeer represents the group that should be leading the innovation front in NZ beer .

Permalink Reply by Greig McGill on July 24, 2008 at 5:12pm

Speaking for myself only, "leading" can be difficult when one is continually beaten down by the big boys with their million dollar marketing budgets, and brain dead, lowest common denominator products.

What frustrates me endlessly is if you ASK people what they want (ie. market research) you only ever get learned-by-rote answers, like "oh, I don't like dark beers", or "oooh, not too bitter please". If you give people a nice fresh Dunkel, or a hoppy, aggressive IPA, these same damn sheeple will say "oh, that's delicious! Can I get some more?" So, short of giving away a TON of free beer as a research/marketing tool (eh Luke?), and/or educating your target market on what beer is before asking them any questions, I just can't see how any amount of research will produce anything but Speights Gold part deux.

I don't want to be negative. If I can help you guys out somehow, I'm happy to. I would love to see something great get made, and in the process, have it raise awareness of good beer.

Permalink Reply by nzbrewer on July 24, 2008 at 8:39pm

eh Luke? what the frak is that? the beer i gave away for R&M could have only weighed 60 or 70kg?

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 24, 2008 at 8:55pm

You've got a really valid pont there about people giving learned answers to research. Thats why, with the assitance of our Brewer I hope this project will play a part in educating consumers.

I've never brewed my own beer so I can't tlak from experience, but I'm going to disagree that innovation can only be done by the big boys. In my opinion, innovation is more than just spending marketing dollars - it's thinking outside of the box and executing ideas wells. We haven't really achieved anything (yet) but OurBrew has made heaps of noise and definitely inspired some thinking around innovation - and thats off a (ridiculously) minimal budget.

one last point: cheers for being so active in our conversations Greig (both here & on our forum), its appreciated. Out of interest, what beer do you make and where can I purchase?

Permalink Reply by Greig McGill on July 25, 2008 at 12:24pm

Sorry Dan, I think threading limits prohibit me replying after a certain point, so I'm back at the top of this thread...

I'm not a commercial brewer, "just" a home brewer. Like many of those here. You can try my beer at my house any time you feel like swinging by Hamilton for a pint or three. :)

I'm just a motivated amateur who would love to see better beer in NZ. It was my motivation for helping set up SOBA, with many people here (including several commercial brewers such as Luke, and Steve Plowman). That's why, after my initial fit of negativity, I really would like to see OurBrew succeed.

Permalink Reply by Mike Shadow on July 24, 2008 at 9:02am

I wonder if they researched MASH before launch and got plenty of buy-in from consumer research groups. Something tells me they probably did. Anyone know how long that lasted?

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 24, 2008 at 4:30pm

I'm sure they would have researched it - but the research would likely have been done in the standard 'execs-behind-mirrors' style. In my opinion, this isn't the most ideal way to get real consumer insights.

Permalink Reply by nzbrewer on July 24, 2008 at 8:37pm

MASH,
13 weeks to get it to market,
13 weeks in the market
13 weeks to sell out the last of the stock at below cost.

Permalink Reply by Mike Shadow on July 24, 2008 at 8:42pm

And do you know why they did it? Perceived demand? Experiment? Just for shits & giggles? Pretty average ad campaign, ripping off a worth1000 photoshop comp.

Permalink Reply by nzbrewer on July 24, 2008 at 8:59pm

I would have to say they must have done it for a laugh, cause they had to get something good come out of the exercise. Creating landfill can't be fun for too many people.

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 24, 2008 at 9:06pm

Thanks primarily to RTD's, beer is drunk less by this generation of 18-24 year olds (Gen Y) than any generation prior. I'm not sure, but it seems like Mash was meant to be the solution to this.

The theory is that the taste profile preferred by this generation is a lot lighter as well, hence the ever growing popularity of low in taste beers like Corona. I wonder what this will mean for the beer market in general in the years ahead?

Permalink Reply by HerrSchnapps on July 24, 2008 at 10:17pm

Bah, maybe I'm different, but as a Gen Y (what marketing bullsh*t) I'm increasingly liking stronger beers, IPA's, ales, porter, stouts etc and I'm converting friends in showing them that not all beer has to be like sex in a canoe.

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