AleBlazers for Genesee Brewing’s Cream Ale

  • A regional mainstay beer with declining share

  • A new style of go-to beer across the Eastern U.S.

  • Connecting the one-of-a-kind authentic American beer recipe with the street cred of local one-of-a-kind creators

  • From value to premium in 3 months.

    The U.S. beer category has grown significantly from hundreds to thousands of brewers. Standing out in the category is proving harder and harder, especially as claims of originality across all large and craft beer brands have clouded the market. The reality is, there are only a few truly original American beer styles. Perhaps the most original of the original? Cream Ale.

    Genesee Brewing Company’s Cream Ale has been the style’s gold standard since the ’60s. The problem is that not enough people outside our region know that. As the competition has significantly more marketing dollars to spend, we had to go spread the word about Genesee Cream Ale a bit differently. Being a media advertiser wasn’t going to cut it due to our limited marketing budget. To break out and break through, we had to become a media publisher. So that’s what we did.

    We took trips—six to be exact—to new expansion markets, making friends who are as original as Genesee Cream Ale. Our mission was to connect like-minded people to each other—giving them the name AleBlazers. Through thousands of photos and hours of footage, we captured stories that were published online, on social, and on paper through a zine, as we knew our audience relishes analog.

Brand Activation:
Integrated Campaign

My Roles:
Creative Direction
Art Direction

Collaborators:
Josh Coon (CXO) , Nue Chanthavongsay (Photo/Video), Justyn Iannucci (AD), Melody Ossala (AD)

AleBlazers case study video

Our roadtrip started in Rochester, NY to meet Dean Jones, Genny’s brewmaster and learn about Ceam Ale in it’s birthplace.

We shot and edited 12 videos in 5 additional cities up and down the East Coast. We explored themes of originality, authenticity, and quality. Here’s a selection of some of my favorite Aleblazer videos:

Boston Barber & Tattoo Co., Boston, MA

Pizza Brain, Philadelphia, PA

Nikesha Durrett, Washington, DC

Brooklyn Motor Works, Brooklyn, NY

Inner Ear Studio, Arlington, VA

Graci Phillips, Nashville, TN

We created a OG zine called Mash’d for our audience that loves analog stuff. Mash’d covered stories about beer, food, music and included some games and even an inserted flexi 45rpm record.

Results

+18%

Sales growth in core regions

+8%

Sales growth in expansion markets

40X

Engagement increase

1M+

Video plays

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