Power Hour: Craft Beer Growth Opportunity Lies with Female Consumers

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Craft beer is making progress in reaching female consumers, but there’s more work to be done, according to Mike Kallenberger, president of Tropos Brand Consulting.

Kallenberger presented on a variety of demographics as part of a talk given during yesterday’s Power Hour webinar, hosted by the Brewers Association.

Kallenberger, who worked for several years at Miller Brewing Company and most recently served as a consumer intelligence manager for MillerCoors, cited the 2016 Yankelovich Monitor survey that showed women accounted for 28 percent of the weekly craft beer drinkers (up 3 percent year over year) and 36 percent of new drinkers. Kallenberger called it progress, but said more was needed if craft brewers wanted to continue gaining market share. If those numbers could reach a 50/50 male-female split, “that would just be a ridiculously large increase in the number of craft beer drinkers,” he said.

Meanwhile, craft beer lost share with Hispanics, only 18 percent of whom identified themselves as weekly craft beer drinkers. Hispanics accounted for a 13 percent increase in the number of new drinkers while the number of African American consumers increased by 17 percent, Kallenberger shared.

The Yankelovich survey also found that 87 percent of Hispanics and 86 percent of African Americans said their cultural background was important to their personal identity. In addition, 72 percent of African Americans said they seek out brands that acknowledge their culture’s traditions, while 66 percent of Hispanics sought brands that celebrated their heritage.

On top of that, 76 percent of Hispanics and 89 percent of African Americans gravitate toward brands that show others they are successful. And yet, crat isn’t reaching those drinkers. Among drinkers earning $75,000 or more, African Americans purchased five times more import beer than craft beer while Hispanics purchased three times more import beer.

Kallenberger also found that between 30 and 60 percent of African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to drink a brand if a celebrity endorses it. Less than 10 percent of caucasians said that affected their decisions. Kallenberger said celebrity endorsements work if they’re right for the brand but are rare in the craft beer sphere.

So how do craft brewers reach these three growing demographics? The strategic way is to speak to them as a person who happens to be a woman or Hispanic or African American, Kallenberger said. And those groups are more likely to be motivated by belonging and connection than white males, he said.

The word “authenticity” if defined as being “true to self” didn’t seem to mean more to craft beer drinkers than all beer drinkers, and thus wasn’t a major motivating factor, Kallenberger said. Meanwhile, “independence” was a compelling factor among Hispanic and African American craft beer drinkers. And the attribute “rebellion” appealed to craft drinkers across the board — but it needs to be creative rebellion that’s engaged and positive versus disengaged and negative, he said.

Craft beer’s foothold with white males has led to a self-fulfilling prophecy, Kallenberger said, and that’s depressing the category’s social influence. He said craft brewers need to find ways to take advantage of or create what he called “weak ties” that connect current consumers — “brand champions” — with potential drinkers outside of the context of beer. The way to grow those brand champions” is “to be relentlessly consistent about your attitudes and motivations for the brand,” he said. “Everything you say and do communicates something about your brand.”

Barriers exist though. A Tropos study for World of Beer found that 34 percent of people who like craft beer believe it can be snobby. That’s not going to help craft reach women, who are more likely to be alienated by perceived snobbery than men, Kallenberger said, citing a presentation by Marti Barletta, an expert on marketing to women.

The same World of Beer study found that, while fringe drinkers were excited to learn about beer styles, they had mixed feelings about beer and food pairings and especially negative feelings about proper glassware, Kallenberger said. He suggested tamping down those aspects while acknowledging that craft has made strides at being more accessible through cans and session beer.

Import drinkers gravitate more toward status and “conspicuous consumption,” which means they want brands that cost a lot, that they’re aware costs a lot and that others are aware cost a lot, such as Guinness, Corona, Stella Artois and Heineken. Notably, Kallenberger said more than half of Heineken’s volume comes from Hispanics and African Americans who are attracted to that attribute of the brand.

There’s also opportunity to reach conspicuous consumers by getting higher-end beer placements and bottles in clubs, he said. Kallenberger said he believes craft beer’s lack of quality cues is holding the category back.