Denver Hotel Bar
Feb 8, 2010
Today’s post goes out to Joel and Wes of Knoxville Tennessee. I had the pleasure of coincidentally sitting at the same bar in the hotel last night for a beer and dinner.
gorgeous snowy Denver Colorado
They’re in Denver to ski – excellent plan – and I’m here on (pleasurable) business. One great thing about Women Enjoying Beer is that it’s a real conversation starter.
“Really?” is the comment from a lot of people when I introduce myself and pass them a business card. Beer holds a lot of allure and fascination regardless of if people drink much beer or not.
(I know…tough job. I do take it seriously while having fun at it though.)
So Joel asked me last night - what did I think were the two top reasons women didn’t drink much beer.
I turned the question and asked him what he thought the reasons were. His answer: calories and carbs.
Bingo – one exact reason WEB is around is to bust those kinds of myths.
Not so – and this is according to the hundreds of women I have talked to about beer, whether formally in focus groups or casually at, say, hotel bars. The calorie and carbs issue is a perfect example of advertisers marketing to what they think women want – without necessarily asking them directly. It’s someone else’s lens placed on the view.
And while health is part of the conversation for women and beer, as it is for men as well, it’s not the very top of mind issue.
The top two would easily be:
Number 1 they haven’t been marketed to accurately and authentically hence little engagement.
And number 2 that they haven’t been actively and consistently pursued educationally. i.e. breweries specifically reaching out to women about beer – not pandering or patronizing. Reaching out – recognizing the potential, realizing that beer should be genderless in it’s audience yet you have to first capture that market share to address it (like any market share).
And it’s not what I think. Those answers come from a large number of women from all kinds of backgrounds and in many different demographics.
Thanks Joel for the lively conversation and asking questions. The conversation has to include all genders. I hope you two had a fun night in Denver. How was Wynkoop?
Tags: calories, carbs, conversation, Denver Colorado
February 13th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
” The conversation has to include all genders”
Browsing the site, I had a moment of what I think is realisation: mass market advertising of beer neglects more than the female half of the population – it also fails to cater to the beer geek guys, with its focus on sex (scantily-clad females) or “clean aftertaste” (read: flavourless) and the like, the appeal is obviously to the lowest common beernominator. Mass marketing of beer is to the frat boys, and their older brethren, and not to the growing craft beer culture at all.
Moving forward with this thought, it seems to me that a lot of the marketing that could be done around the craft beer movement, with focus on product quality, flavour, food pairing, and such like, can be equally applicable to enthusiasts (or potential enthusiasts, if they can be reached) of either gender.
I have male friends who are wine connoisseurs, and seldom or never drink beer. Yet these same guys, if persuaded to try something a little different (my boyfriend’s home-brewed Belgian strong ale was an example) are astounded by what they experienced, and will repeat many times how surprised they had been, and that they had never known there were beers like this.
So it’s not just about gender. It really is about outreach to a different sector of the market, and one which is comprised of both men and women.