After a very long week of being out of town to help my parents completely empty their house & move 1000 miles, it's good to be back home.
On the project side, it also provided opportunities to get a first-hand look at the craft beer scene in Nashville, which is in scope for our client's growth agenda, as well as Vermont and the North Country of New York. Considering that "New England IPA" is looking like it may be the first big hit from Braxton Labs, it was really interesting to get first-hand knowledge of the brewing scene in VT, which confirmed that BL's NE-IPA was on-point, authentic in both taste and description, and on-trend.
I also had the opportunity to conduct tasting + qualitative interviews in both locations, including direct taste comparisons of Braxton's signature beer ("Storm" Cream Ale) to current market standard-bearers for that style, as well as Braxton's core IPA to other Cincinnati-area IPAs. I will build on this with a tasting I'll hold on July 12th, that will include a brief survey. Additionally, I have a brief survey about craft beer overall, that is currently in the field. A next step to round out the perspective this is giving us, is to place a survey aimed at understanding craft beer rejecters and uninitateds, to understand trial barriers or turn-offs. That will enable us to make recommendations on which barriers & turn-offs, if any, Braxton should actively try to overcome, and which barriers & turn-offs (like price), Braxton should either ignore or only engage on with utmost caution.
Despite low engagement from Braxton, I think they will get a lot of bang for the buck from Natalie and I, because by having 2 of us on the project, we are able to each cover different aspects of their business while addressing how a unifying dynamic variable can be expressed in each context to reinforce the overall equity of the company to consumers.
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