Eat a Bar, Drink a Beer and Go Climb A Rock
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0|0px|26.3125px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|13.1562px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″]
Three companies who have souls and sales.
How innovative, mission driven-brands can collaborate on consumer values.
ClifBar, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and REI have something in common– their values and their customers. What’s this mean though? Having a product with a significant market share isn’t really enough nowadays. It’s really more about knowing your customers and building a strong connection to their values because of your values. These three companies, who make very different products, now connect with the same consumers in very collaborative ways. In working together on some co-marketing events and branded experiences they are very effectively targeting the same values-driven customers– and building loyalty and connection.
Making Real Beer
Ken Grossman, the founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing, basically created and shaped the craft brewing industry starting in 1980. As a Chico State College student he loved the outdoors and loved creating his own beer. This passion eventually resulted in one of the first craft brewing enterprises in the United States back in 1980, bringing back real flavor and real beer with quality ingredients. He championed not only his beer and the beer making process but all the other craft brewers trying to get on store shelves throughout California and the nation. Grossman supported other craft brewers entering the market so everyone would get more shelf space. This helped drive the creation of the craft beer category. With over 6,000 craft breweries in the U.S., I guess this idea paid off.
Now Sierra Nevada focuses on bigger values-driven issues. New campaigns promote sustaining our natural environment as the values of the brand. Sierra Nevada is about the Sierras and the quality of the word that their customers care about.
By keeping the bigger picture they keep focused on their customer
A Nutritional Bar that’s Healthy and Real
I first met Gary Erickson at a food tradeshow right after he decided not to sell the company. He said he just couldn’t do it – it would be selling out his brand, his soul, his values. The company now is partly employee-owned and continues to grow, dedicated to using the best organic ingredients. I remember Clifbar in the days when they were made down the street in Berkeley. Now they’re a global company and they really helped shape the natural food and nutrition bar industry. There are now more than a hundred entries in this category and it’s expanding every day. Clifbar continues to focus on their customer and their values of integrity, quality and energy when you need it to do great things outdoors.
Keeping your product values front and center is about customer values
Finding the Outdoors Again
REI was struggling with sales and facing an immense challenge. Founded in 1935 as Recreational Equipment Inc, it is one of the largest cooperative, consumer-owned companies in the US. That’s right; the shareholders are those bearded camping gear guys and hiking boot wearing gals with membership cards, all across the country. REI was facing a demographic shift. Their customer base, which exploded and grew from the 1980s to now was aging. REI was not getting the younger Millennial demographic in their stores. With lots of competition from other outdoor gear retailers and online discount sales, how could they gain traction with millennials in this market?
REI made a radical move back in 2015 when a young marketing executive had the idea of being closed on Black Friday. They gave all 12,000 employees the day off; they told all their customers to go out on Black Friday and do something outdoors and share it with REI. This has turned into one of the most successful brand strategies in years, building loyalty and expanding the customer base. They gained enormous traction with younger outdoor folks. Thousands of pictures, images, and videos flooded into REI as people shared what they did. These images with or without REI gear have shown up in their catalogs and ads and online. Real people now see REI as a company with genuine commitment, that supports you in going outside to have transformative experiences, enjoy life and find out who you are.
Selling the experience of the outdoors sells the value of a good backpack
How Connecting on Customers’ Values Makes a Difference
In highly competitive, mature markets, companies that are driven by their values have more of an edge over competitors. These three companies have a common strategy — customers who love the outdoors, love natural products or love their craft beer experiences will love us. This strategy has now allowed them to partner in many areas and cross-market — yes, to the same customers, with the same values they all share.
With the 21st century customer, who you are matters as much as what you sell – when consumers kick the tires and open the hood of their brands, they want to see authenticity and character that resonates with them and, of course, a great story behind it all. For brands, the more you know about your customer, what the values they have, what they care about the more you can engage with them.
Sierra Nevada Brewing, Clifbar, and REI have effectively built powerful relationships around the same values for the same value-driven consumers. This is where everyone wins.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]