MARKETING FIND YOUR VOICE

immensely from when we started with an efficient factory, started by Henry Ford (as problematic as he was) under the idea that we could change the way the world worked by automating, something that resonates in the world of brewing. As efficiencies increase, beer is cheaper to turn out and the overheads of a workforce can be decreased and those profits can be, in turn, used elsewhere. But at some point that becomes a zero sum game as it hits a point where sales and output balance themselves out. The next stage, Godlin posits, is advertising. If you can get enough money and tell enough people then you can sell more, but this model requires you to act like you are the best, you are the top of the chain (an example of this being taken quite literally is by larger breweries siting billboard adverts in close proximity to smaller competitors), taking average ideas and pushing them out to the masses, because average is the easiest way to get the most people.

However Godlin, most especially through the way the world works now, believes tribes are the most important thing. They connect silos of people to create a movement and this is only possible through communication. Any business is a movement. A series of silos to connect in order for it to function; whether it’s a small business of just a few people or a much larger one, the key is to connect those silos of people into a common goal. Now, I appreciate this sounds a bit like a cult but those who create them are remarkably good at what they do and you can take learnings from that, without it getting creepy, and the first way to do that is engender loyalty. It’s important to note that loyalty should never be blind, we’ve all seen how that can go, but it is something that can be earned through simple steps and the very first building block of that trust and loyalty is open communication.

If your sales staff don’t know what’s going on in the brewhouse but it’s plastered all over social media that some highprofile brewer has popped in to sprinkle some hops on something, how can they honestly tell excited customers what’s happening?

If the brewhouse doesn’t know how much demand there is for something out there, then how can they gauge how much to brew? And if your PR & marketing department doesn’t know there are worryingly low levels of demand for a product being generated by customers, how do they know they need to big it up to the press, or through social media, to consumers if the sales staff aren’t telling them?

In reverse, just think how furious everyone in the business would be if sales wasn’t telling the accounts department who they needed to bill or if the brewers didn’t communicate to your maltster they need an extra tonne of pale malt for the next brew day?

And it’s not just about convincing people that they want something they don’t already have yet. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest heffalump traps the brewery industry has fallen into. It relies on the next big beer, instead of building a business that focuses on bringing together those people who have a sense of wanting to be part of something more than just lurching from hype beer to hype beer, breweries often have a tendency to grab at the available instead of building the steadily attainable and rarely look outside of their immediate circle.

A lot of this is what has made the industry a white cis male-dominated world. It’s the need to hold on to the reigns, stay in your lane, make sure that you collaborate with those people that will bring that little sprinkling of hype dust to your brewery, because a failure to move out of your silos means you never challenge the status quo.

In my experience, that also leads to a sense of myopia and a dissonance between those who really want to connect with you, who want a sense of being in a tribe and how they receive your information and, more importantly, how you continue to lead it. This comes not just from the top but from all layers of your business. If someone has joined a business, they almost certainly really want to be there, so how are you telling them the story of what you believe, what you want to be out there. How are you engendering a sense of belonging and belief, so that they can go out and sell that sense of belonging and belief for you and continue to build your tribe?

Again, I urge you not to think of this as a cynical tool, that way a sense of omnipotence lies, but to use it to create an honest change which does lead to more successful business… oh, and for the love of god, send me press releases.

Jamil Zainasheff called our friend Sean at Siren to see if we were legitimate - I don’t blame him one bit!”

Seven years since starting Elusive Brewing, its founder Andy Parker remains as unassuming and humble as ever. But the decorated award-winning brewer, alongside managing director Ruth Michell, have long since established the Finchampstead-based business as a leading light in the UK brewing scene. And integral facets of that journey have been the importance of community and collaboration, whether that be with local brewers or those from across the Atlantic.

Jamil Zainasheff is a hero to many brewers. Having scooped more than 500 brewing awards, he is also a highlyrespected author. Zainasheff was in London at the end of last year to deliver a keynote address at our very own Brewers Congress event.

And as a self-confessed member of said brewer’s fanbase, Parker reached out to the US brewing icon to invite him for a collaboration at Elusive HQ. It was handy then that Zainasheff’s good friend Sean Knight is the head brewer at Siren Craft Brew, which is a mere stone’s throw from Elusive, put in a good word and helped get the brewday over the line.

“So Jamil, what would you like to brew?” Parker recalls asking. “We love everything about the West Coast, IPAs - Red, Brown, Black, all of them!”

“When I hear brown ale, I think of Tasty’s Janet’s Brown Ale,” replied Zainasheff.

Mike ‘Tasty’ McDole was one of the most prolific and influential people in modern homebrewing and a good friend (and TBN co-host) of Jamil’s. His Janet’s Brown beer was featured in Jamil’s book and went on to become one of the best known and loved homebrewing recipes out there, brewed the world over. Tasty sadly passed away in 2020 after a battle with cancer. So in tribute to Tasty, they took his recipe for Janet’s Brown and brought it bang up to date by fermenting it with WHC Labs Hop Unlock, a socalled ‘thiolised’ yeast which can unlock aroma compounds. It was then mash hopped with Cascade (to promote bound thiol levels) that lead to a super aromatic and tasty American Brown Ale. In addition, Elusive made a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support in Tasty’s name and their good friends at The Malt Miller to produce kits released alongside the finished beer.

But that project was merely one of many that Elusive have taken part in recently. Not content with brewing together, Parker and Zainasheff have just signed a joint author contract with CAMRA to collaborate on a new book, The Modern Homebrewer. CAMRA will be publishing this in Autumn 2024 with the aim to cover all the latest products and innovations, covering ingredients, process and equipment.

And earlier in 2023 there was the launch of the latest iteration of the International Women’s Day Home Brew initiative, and also the brewery’s first Brave Noise beer - a global collaborative effort to provide inclusive and safe environments for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ people throughout the beer industry. Then last month, the brewery marked its birthday with the return of its popular home brewing competition, something that has helped launched the professional brewing journey of outfits like Middle Child and also most recently - Snowmoon. In short, business as usual for Elusive, which means being busy… very busy.

But the brewery has come a long way, and evolved a great deal since being founded back in 2014. Although one thing has remained the same and that it’s a business that creates beer with one eye on tradition and the other on taking things to the next level. It’s just that Andy now has more help in