The latest podcast from the Social Media Examiner is an
interview with word of mouth marketing consultant (Founder of Fizz) and author
Ted Wright. He shared a really
interesting story about his work for Pabst Blue Ribbon that got me
thinking. Here are some of them.
Anyone familiar with the beer industry knows that PBR was
popular decades ago, disappeared for ages, and then all of a sudden become a
popular brand again. It seems to me that
it is be too associated with the “hipster” mentality, so I am going to take a
little liberty with the story. Listen to
the podcast for the 100% accurate account.
PBR wasn’t the best tasting.
It wasn’t luxurious. It wasn’t
cool (at least not before the relaunch). It wasn’t anything. It didn’t even have a very engaging origin
story. It was created by a bunch of
regular guys who liked making beer. That was about it.
So that became the marketing pitch. To tell the truth, that describes a lot of
us. Perhaps we are not the coolest
person among our friends. We are not the richest. We are not the best at work. We don’t get picked first when playing pickup
basketball. But that is OK. Because we
really like what we do.
Take my situation for example. My blogs are read by thousands of people, but
it will never be the tens of thousands or millions that some of the really
popular blogs get. I publish every year,
but not in the most prestigious journals.
My friends seem to like me, but I am not sure I am anyone’s BFF. I founded User Experience Day at HFES and it
has been pretty successful, but it will never be Social Media Marketing World
(the conference by the folks that created the podcast I am talking about). But that is OK. Because I love what I do.
So can I be enticed to drink PBR because those guys are just
like me? Does it give me some affinity
with the brand?
I am generally one of those people who resist brands. As soon as something is popular, I give it
up. If it is luxurious, I stay
away. I am not a hipster, cool, high
end, trendy, or any of those things. I
pride myself on being just a regular person. So maybe I should drink PBR . . .
