Thursday, August 02, 2007

Founders Brewing says it all: "Ignore mainstream."

A few days back, I gave August Busch IV, chief executive "everything" of the monolithic megabrewing assassin Anheuser-Busch, a hard time for prattling on in CEO-speak about his company's sterling performance.

Hide that Cabernet: High octane Busch (no, not "Bush") blather.

I yawned, and two readers differed, which is not a bad thing at all, but permit me to reiterate that while captains of our surging craft beer industry might well be able to speak such an obtuse language and even comprehend some of the impenetrable jargon, it's likely that they don't enjoy doing so any more than Czechs and Hungarians cherished speaking Russian in the company of their Soviet hegemonists circa 1984.

That's because craft brewers have another option: Waxing rhapsodic about the praiseworthy products they've had a hand in creating, and doing so in a way that Bud Light will never hear itself wooed.

Then there's this concise statement of brewing and marketing principle, as provided to the world by the good people at Founders Brewing Company in Michigan. Makes me wish I’d thought of it.

To bring you truly great beer, we have focused our efforts to one simple pursuit ... ignore mainstream.

We brew the beer we want to drink.

In this pursuit we have found lower efficiencies, higher cost, less yields and smaller market share. This may seem like an unsound business model, but in our pursuit for bigger and better beer we have discovered a subculture of microbrewery aficionados. People like you, who enjoy beers that push the envelope of creativity.

Amen, brothers. Anyone up for a Founders night at NABC/Rich O’s/Sportstime?

Hint: Four Sticks isn’t on the invitation list … and no sum of his company’s donations to charity stands to be able to change that fact.

How’s that for a successful “improvement initiative?”

No comments: