---

---

That's exactly what Boston Beer Company, makers of the Sam Adams brand, did to differentiate themselves from other brewers. President Jim Koch harvested the idea from a new board member whose wine background prompted suggesting a glass design to enhance beer taste the way wine glasses promote a good experience.
 
Right after the "less filling" / "great taste" debate ended, a new challenge arose for serving beer- can or glass. Boston Beer answered it decisively - in a glass. In fact, they set out to find a drinking glass that would release the inherent aroma of their product.
 
By intimately understanding customer behavior, they identified flavor profile criteria of their customers and tested current glasses against those criteria. Using established concepts like a beaded rim (to release aroma), an outward-turning lip(to boost "sweetness detection") and thinner glass walls (to impart coldness to the holder), among others, they settled on a new glass design.
 
At product rollout, Mr. Koch handed out samples of the new glass to Boston area bars.  In the process he managed to generate a buzz about the product among his customer base. As one BostonUniversity marketing professor, Patrick Kaufmann, explained, "Beer's role in a social network creates a way for customers to talk about a product in new and positive ways, a prime ingredient for attitude change."
 
Meanwhile, the glass sells well on the Sam Adams website and it has created its own revenue stream. Clearly, success didn't just happen.  Key campaign elements were a strong gut-based notion of what would work in the market, a deep understanding of customer behavior, a methodology for product development, and an energetic rollout in which customers were part of vital marketing that created product excitement.
 
So the next time you relax with cold beer in hand, consider these basic milestones and think about how you can reach them in your business.  Beer drinking as research? You gotta love it.
 
Thank you to Joseph Kahn at the Boston Globe for first reporting this story.

top | previous page	email page | print