Samuel Adams – Boston Beer Company
Making its debut in 1984, the Samuel Adams brand is recognized as one of the largest and most respected craft beer brands with a particular focus on lagers and seasonal beers.
With innovation at the core of its DNA, the Samuel Adams team is on a pursuit of better beer. Lauren Price, Head of Brand, Samuel Adams, says that over the past several years, not only have they paid close attention to drinker trends and preferences, but they also continue to anticipate drinkers’ palates while pushing the boundaries of brewing to expand the company’s portfolio of beers.
The beer and alcohol space is constantly evolving and expanding, with a noted increase in sober-curious consumers. More and more drinkers are looking for no- and low-alcohol alternatives, which is why Samuel Adams spent two years crafting the beer lover’s non-alcoholic product Just The Haze.
“Drinkers can rotate in this hazy non-alcoholic IPA to their drinking sessions and get more out of their days, their nights, and every cheers in between,: Price says. “And, drinkers can also experience our second iteration of non-alcoholic beer with Gold Rush, featuring subtle malt notes, a light body and medium carbonation with a dry, refreshing finish.”
“As liquid proof, Just The Haze was voted best non-alcoholic beer in the country at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival, and Gold Rush was awarded best non-alcoholic beer at the 2023 Australian International Beer Awards,” she adds.
Beyond non-alcoholic beers, Price says the Samuel Adams team is seeing drinkers – who’ve experienced a bit of hop fatigue from the prevalence of bitter, hoppy IPAs – return to lagers for a smooth, sessionable drinking experience. Samuel Adams Founder and brewer, Jim Koch, always believed there was a perfect Boston Lager out there – he just hadn’t made it yet.
With the latest tweaks and culmination of a 38-year process, the Samuel Adams team is closer to perfection in a pint glass with Boston Lager Remastered. But why change a classic? While the recipe hasn’t changed, it’s like remastering your favorite song to clean up the “pops” or “hisses” to result in a smoother, more refined beer. Through Boston Lager Remastered, drinkers are rediscovering the elegance of lager and experiencing a full-flavored beer.
Some marketing methods that work well for the Samuel Adams brand include capitalizing on relevant and cultural moments to activate in ways that engage and resonate with drinkers.
“Most recently, Samuel Adams leaned into ditching summer obligations with the ‘I CAN’t Can’ – the ultimate summertime accessory to help drinkers scratch the itch to ditch,” Price says. “If you can’t make it, shake it! Shake the ‘I CAN’t’ Can and an excuse will appear at the top of the mock can. The Samuel Adams ‘I CAN’t Can’ sold out within hours of going live both when it initially debuted on the e-store and again when it was restocked a week later.”
Samuel Adams also continues to show up in unexpected ways, bringing levity – and of course, beer – to unlikely cultural moments. This year, Samuel Adams elevated its spring seasonal, Cold Snap, by becoming the Official Beer of Groundhog Day. Samuel Adams activated on the ground in Punxsutawney with “everyone’s favorite drinking buddy,” Your Cousin From Boston, and, after snapping into six more weeks of winter, rewarded drinkers nationwide by giving away $50K worth of Cold Snap.
Beyond inserting beer into key cultural moments that resonate with drinkers, Samuel Adams’ team of brewers are dedicated to the constant pursuit of better beer, exploring creative brews to bring a unique drinking experience to fans. In November 2021, Samuel Adams launched Space Craft, an out-of-this-world beer made from hops that traveled to space on the Inspiration4 mission.
Knowing this beer demanded a name of cosmic proportions, Samuel Adams turned to fans to help name the special release and received over 5,000 entries from across the universe to land on “Space Craft.” The west coast-style IPA launched on November 16, coinciding with the peak of the leonid meteor shower, according to Price.
As summer begins to wind down and drinkers embrace all things pumpkin, Samuel Adams will once again return as the leader in the fall beer category.
Twisted Tea – Boston Beer Company
Founded in 2001 on the premise that a hard iced tea should taste like real iced tea, Twisted Tea has become the best-selling hard tea in the country. Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea accounts for 91% of hard tea sales in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels (through May 13, 2023), according to data from Bump Williams Consulting.
Twisted Tea’s Sr. Brand Director, Erica Taylor, says the following three key factors have contributed to the growth of the brand throughout the years:
- Driving broad national brand awareness to invite more people to the Twisted Tea party than ever before. With elements like the Tea Drop ad campaign, now in its third year, they’re able to drive significant national awareness all year long with media support across linear, digital and social, OOH and nearly everywhere to ensure everyone across the country “knows Twisted Tea as the fun-loving brand that makes damn delicious hard tea.”
- Focusing on physical availability to make sure Twisted Tea is available wherever drinkers are, from c-store to grocery, bars and restaurants to golf courses, and everywhere in between, the team is supporting all classes of trade to ensure big blocks of Twisted Tea yellow are easy to spot for drinkers everywhere.
- Developing innovation that welcomes a new drinker into the brand or expands into a new occasion. In addition to supporting the core flavors with pack innovation, the team is also seeing big incremental growth with Twisted Tea Light, testing a new 8% ABV lineup with Twisted Tea Extreme for those higher-ABV occasions, increasing their Hispanic households through strategic flavor innovation with Twisted Tea Mangonada and more.
“Twisted Tea is the best-tasting, easiest-drinking hard tea out there, which we know continues to drive folks to the brand,” Taylor says. “And while Original continues to be our most popular flavor, our Party Packs featuring a variety of flavors (our Game Day Party Pack for college football is rolling out now!) is the perfect option for sharing with friends at a tailgate or really anywhere. Twisted Tea Light has also brought more folks into the brand for its same great taste as Original, just lighter on the calories, sugar and alcohol.”
Twisted Tea also has a few key marketing tactics that have helped the brand stay at the top in recent years. Taylor says their Tea Drop ad campaign continues to work hard for the brand. For the past three years, they’ve done “Tea Drops” at the beach, college football stadiums and on the top of a mountain in the middle of winter, among others.
“And our favorite part? Each spot features real Twisted Tea superfans we cast directly from our social channels,” Taylor explains. “Flown out from across the country to be surprised with their very own Tea Drop (that includes larger-than-life elements specific to each occasion and always unveils a whole lotta tea and fun inside a big yellow crate), this campaign continues to rally around all of the brand’s favorite things: fans, fun and drinking Twisted Tea under the sun!”
The brand’s social channels have also been a positive extension of their personality. When they show up on social, they want to show up like a friend with a lot of relatable memes, photos of different fans and plenty of Twisted Tea. The brand is backed by a passionate community, so their social channels are an ideal way to keep up with customers and chat with different drinkers.
“We also feature real fans on every bottle and can of Twisted Tea,” Taylor says. “Since 2007, we’ve featured our real fans on our back labels and it’s become a core part of everything we do. We receive more than 1,000 photos each month of fans vying for the spot, with most photos featuring the essential Twisted Tea occasion: outdoor, day drinking and having fun.”
Now that the start of college and football season are around the corner, the Twisted Tea team is ready for the passion and community of fans that come with them.
“Going all in on fandom and fun, Twisted Tea is sure to get the good times going all season long through a brand-new Tea Drop spot (now our third Tea Drop for football), national media presence all season long (anywhere and everywhere), our Game Day Party Pack, school IP partnerships and so much more,” Taylor says. “When you think college football, our goal is you think Twisted Tea.”
