Start Your Engines: Racing Towards CBC 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana
Featured Date / Time: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020 at 1:00 pm EDT - 1:50 pm EDT (add to calendar) Event type: Event held online Price: Free Register / View: Achieving Optimal Distinctiveness in Craft Beer: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Having Too Many Beer Styles
The neon lights of Vegas and the 2024 Craft Brewers Conference are in the rearview mirror and brewers and industry professionals will soon set their sights on Indianapolis, home of next year’s conference.
“We are planning, and the events team will be heading out there for a site visit in July,” said Ann Obenchain, the Brewers Association Vice President of Marketing and Communications, just prior to the Las Vegas conference. (more...)
Sam Holloway, President of Crafting A Strategy, will share research on beer style growth and beer portfolio proliferation over the past 15 years, focusing on the business advantages (and disadvantages) of offering too many products. It used to be that being different from industrial light lagers was enough, but the number of new craft entrants and the number of educated craft beer consumers in the current market suggest there is an “optimal distinctiveness” for a small craft brewery. Beyond this optimal level, Sam’s research shows a brewery is likely to add costs without receiving additional benefits. Sam will discuss strategies for beer style innovation, but also other types of innovation that lead to greater sales at lower risk and lower cost.
Speaker: Sam Holloway, Crafting A Strategy
Bio: Sam Holloway is the Bay Area Distinguished Professor of Management & Entrepreneurship at the University of Portland (Oregon, USA). Sam’s academic research includes studying the international craft beer industry. Sam is a featured speaker, regularly presenting his research at universities and beer industry conferences throughout the world. Holloway is also a shareholder and Board member of Eugene, Oregon’s Oakshire Brewing, a community inspired small batch craft brewery serving the Pacific Northwest (USA). Based upon his research and practical experience, Dr. Holloway launched CRAFTINGASTRATEGY.COM (CAS), a global online knowledge sharing community whose membership includes beer industry entrepreneurs and stakeholders in 19 countries on five continents.
Categories: Business of BeerConsumer SalesCraft Beer Professionals Virtual ConferenceMarketingProcess