Celebrating Craft Beers with Tap Takeovers, Trails, and Microsites
May 27, 2022
Did you know that most Americans live within 10 miles of a craft brewery? That is a statistic shared by the Brewers Association, the trade association of brewers, for brewers, and by brewers. You can thank the craft beer boom, where between 2008 and 2016 the number of breweries expanded by a factor of six and more than doubled its workforce in less than a decade as reported by The Atlantic.
The craft beer boom not only stimulates jobs but also brings in revenue, with consumers opting to pay more for a superior brew. The demand for craft beer is also a boom for travel and tourism, with visitors seeking out the unique tastes and experiences offered in different destinations. Madden Media helps connect travelers to tasty ales through innovative advertising and marketing.
Visit Tampa Bay and the Bay Crafted Takeovers
With one of the top craft beer scenes in the country, Tampa Bay goes above and beyond to promote the local brewery scene with Bay Crafted. This promotion includes the Bay Crafted Pass developed with Madden and Bandwango that lets drinkers check in at the locations and unlock prizes along the way. Such a popular experience needed to break out and break away to draw even more visitors to the city.
Madden Media developed the “Unlock Your Inner Pirate” activation that included tap takeovers in local restaurants and bars in Visit Tampa Bay’s key markets of Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia. Carefully vetted locations served the clientele Visit Tampa Bay sought to reach. In addition to getting brewery guests to interact with the Visit Tampa Bay brand through craft beer and pirate booty swag, we geofenced each location and delivered remarketing ads to people who attended the event. The campaign helped the DMO break in with younger travelers, increasing intent to travel by 42% equating to 2.3M in tracked revenue.
Pickin’ Up Good Libations with Explore York
Explore York organized the Good Libations Trails® as a way for wine, beer, and spirits enthusiasts to explore the many locally owned businesses in and around York County, Pennsylvania. The Good Libations Trails bring together three regional craft beverage trails (Mason-Dixon Wine Trail®, Susquehanna Ale Trail®, and Keystone Craft Spirits Trail®) that explore locally produced beers, wines, and spirits. Through this platform, York County drives traffic to their partner destinations while staying connected to the consumer throughout the process.
What began as a paper passport transformed in 2021 into a digitized passport through a partnership with Madden and Bandwango. Madden promoted the updated Good Libations Trails Digital Pass through targeted advertising on social media. Our ads reached potential visitors in key drive markets throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland who were interested in craft beverage experiences, including wineries, breweries, and distilleries. The campaign saw an above-average click-through rate and helped to broaden awareness of this newly developed offering by the DMO.
Crafting a Microsite with Visit Idaho
Craft brewing is a growing industry in Idaho, bringing in millions of dollars and thousands of jobs annually. Recognizing a boom in the industry, Visit Idaho partnered with Idaho Brewers United in 2017 to designate April as Idaho Craft Beer Month. Visit Idaho added web pages on VisitIdaho.org to gather and promote the month-long events. It became obvious to all involved that the site would be better served under the nonprofit trade association working to bring Idaho breweries together and protect and promote the state’s craft beer industry.
Visit Idaho approached Madden Media to work with Idaho Brewers United to migrate the pages off the state’s website by creating a stand-alone microsite. Idaho Brewers United had an outdated Square Space website and requested a WordPress site for easier management and maintenance. The result is IdahoCraftBeerMonth.com, a five-page website where Idaho’s craft brewers can easily submit an event and download the Idaho Brewers United event guidelines toolkit. Locals and visitors alike use the site to download the Idaho Brewer’s Trail Map and find events to enjoy a pint or two during Idaho’s beer season.
Join us to raise a glass and toast the craft beer industry and the destinations that promote delicious experiences to visitors around the world. If you’d like to learn more about how Madden Media can create ale trails for your destination, drop us a note.
