There’s an ongoing debate about how this media makes sense commercially when so much stuff is given away free? Stormhoek is one of the poster children for this medium yet at first view, it doesn’t make sense. Especially when you see that Hugh MacLeod is behind it and don’t understand his thinking (it took me a couple of months to figure it out.). Here’s one explanation that works for me. Next step.
A while back, I came across this idea for open source beer. That’s good. Then I watched Rocketboom and that prompted me to look at Basic Brewing – a video/podcast show from the US for home brewers. The show veers between the folksy and downright hilarious – in one show the guys say: “We’re going to make a 6-pack.” They’ve subtly commercialised the site. It is educational. Which got me thinking about 3 things:
- The UK has a vibrant if sometimes struggling Real Ale community, supported by CAMRA. They have an award winning writer in Roger Protz who also on occasion talks about home brewing. Neither have RSS feeds. Neither have podcasts or vidcasts. Why? I’ve suggested they both do in email. If you care about British beer – visit the sites and drop them each a line. That’s a market feeding prelude.
- Every firm of UK accountants has at least one boozer on its books. If you’re lucky, you might have a genuine brewpub. So here goes. If CAMRA/Protz do enter the blogosphere then they could serve as the indirect conduit to many things.
- Given the US is a big home and microbrew player – imagine the potential to use vid/podcasts that bring over enthusiasts as boozing tourists? What might you say to your SME brewpub clients about marketing this idea? How might it unfold? How about getting a local tour operator involved? What about approaching RCI if you’re Lakeland, Dales or New Forest based? (Yes there is time share in the UK, it is good and Americans love it.)
Pub breweries are little more than glorified home brew shops. I know – I owned an experimental one called Brasserie de la Varenne. It was featured in the US at Brew Your Own. I never stayed in France long enough to properly commercialise it -and sadly it didn’t make it to BYO’s Web version. I don’t have any Flickr pics of it – if I find any digital pics, I’ll post them up. And I have been brewing beer on and off for 36 years. As further evidence, it is said that each batch of London Pride is fed with a bucket of yeasty wort from the previous brew.
Note: Hugh’s always asking for ideas to sell more Stormhoek. He’s got 100 geek dinners coming up. I’ll leave it to him to work out the rest.
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