While the national lockdown brought the country to a standstill for more than a month, it’s been awesome to see many New Zealand businesses pivoting their brand’s offerings, marketing and strategies in light of Covid-19.
Two such businesses, WK clients 8-Wired Brewing and Behemoth Brewing Company, were quick to spot the opportunity to connect with their beer-loving fans “on the couch” during lockdown and raise their brand awareness in the process.
Behemoth Brewing Company fully embraced the art of doing (almost) nothing during lockdown, by regularly hosting live Facebook, Google Hangouts and Zoom beer, cheese and cured meat tastings and chats from home most evenings.
Behemoth owner Andrew Childs set up a Facebook group Saving the World with Couch Beers encouraging people to “chill out” and “have a couch beer and share that beer with people over the internet.”
This was backed up by regular social media and mailing list communication giving an ever-growing database access to the latest brews and mixed packs that they could no longer easily get access to. A referral scheme was also put in place for the existing database, whereby the person referring got a $10 voucher per referral, this generated over 300 new customer orders during L4.
Meanwhile, Søren Eriksen from 8-Wired Brewing quickly adapted to meet the needs of his customers during lockdown by pushing out freshly brewed beers direct from his Warkworth brewery to customers’ doorsteps via their online platform. To supplement this, Søren’s Live Beer tasting sessions via Facebook provide a real connection to the brewery under lockdown conditions.
He also leaped at the chance to be involved in the global collaboration All Together Beer, in which breweries from around the world made beer with a portion of proceeds going towards the hospitality industry.
8-Wired also embraced the New Zealand Government’s mantra to ‘be kind’ with a series of “gratitude giveaways” for essential workers and others who might have needed a bit of chivvying up during lockdown.
Because let’s be honest – who doesn’t deserve a good beer after a hard day of lockdown!