Beverage Extension Assessment Tool

(B.E.A.T.)

A diagnostic assessment for positioning, branding, and launching your next beverage (without harming your brewery’s reputation)

How to Use

1

The Beverage Extension Assessment Tool (B.E.A.T.) is made up of 14 questions to guide you to the correct brand strategy prescription for your next release. Some of these questions are straight forward. Some take more time and consideration. Answer them to the best of your ability and see where you land.

2

We recommend doing this both individually and as a team (if applicable).

3

It’s also a good idea to take this Assessment at least three times to ensure you get a consistent set of results. In our testing, we found that taking the test a few different times (with fresh eyes) would result in slightly different responses.

4

After the Assessment, you’ll have one or two possible strategy prescriptions. At this point, you can think of The Beyond Beer Handbook as a “choose your own adventure” book. Skip ahead to learn more about the pros and cons of a particular strategy. Once you understand the ins and outs of that possible approach, you can continue on with positioning, naming and branding this product in confidence

Let’s start with some questions regarding your brewery and parent brand as it stands today.

01/14

How long has your brewery been open?(Required)

Less than 5 years

5–10 years

10+ years

02/14

How long have you been using your current branding (logo, beer names, etc.)?(Required)

Less than 5 years

5–10 years

10+ years

03/14

Do you think people buy your beer primarily because of your brand name? Or do they pick your stuff up when shopping more for its specific style, flavor, occasion, price, etc.?(Required)

Yes. People look for our name specifically when shopping. We have a die-hard following.

It’s probably about half and half. We have some brand loyalists, but a lot of people are buying our beer because they’re after a specific style.

People buy our beer because we make popular styles (e.g Hazy IPAs, Sours). I don’t think there’s an overwhelming affinity for our brand specifically.

04/14

Have you experimented with releasing a non-beer extension before (e.g. seltzer, canned cocktail, non-alcoholic beer, coffee, kombucha, sparkling water)?(Required)

Yes – Go to Question 5

No – Skip Question 5

05/14

How did you name and position this non-beer extension?

Skipped!

It was branded as being clearly from our brewery, no different than any of our beers.

We created a new name for the product but still prominently used our brewery’s branding.

We created an entirely different brand name, identity and promotion plan with little-to-no connection to our brewery’s parent brand.

06/14

Do you consider your brewery to be a specialist (e.g. niche focus on a singular style like lagers or sours) or a generalist (e.g. you make a wide variety of styles throughout the year)?(Required)

We are true generalists. We don’t have flagship beers or styles. We make a little bit of everything and we’ll try anything once.

We have a core line of well known year-round beers, but we regularly release experimental and/or specialty beers.

We are true specialists primarily known for a few specific beers or a singular style of beer.

Okay, let’s shift gears and talk about this new product you have planned.

07/14

Does this new product fit naturally within your portfolio in terms of flavor expectations, price point and occasion?(Required)

It fits like a glove. I’m surprised we weren’t doing this from the beginning.

It’s new for us, but not so far afield that it would confuse our customers.

This product is markedly different from what we’ve traditionally made and are known for.

08/14

Does this new product embody the same values that your brewery’s brand stands for? In other words, will this new product’s sales be held back, or bolstered by the current perception of your brewery?(Required)

This product feels very on brand for us. It shouldn’t be held back by our brewery’s reputation at all.

Kind of? Some people might be thrown off by this new product based on how they perceive us, but not enough for it to be a concern.

This product feels fundamentally different from what we have historically stood for—not necessarily in a bad way, but definitely different. I can see the possibility of this new product creating a disconnect in our customers’ minds based on our reputation.

09/14

Who is the ideal target audience for this new product?(Required)

There will be heavy overlap with our existing customers.

There may be some overlap, but I think this will mostly be a new audience for us.

I think we will be reaching out to an entirely different audience than we have historically focused on.

10/14

How confident are you that this new product could become a significant revenue stream for your brewery?(Required)

Not very confident. We are getting this out there to see how it does with minimal expectations.

We think this could sell moderately well, but don’t see it becoming a huge part of our business.

We see a big opportunity here and think this could become a major part of our portfolio moving forward.

11/14

Do you think this new product could steal sales away from any of your existing products (e.g. a seltzer that might steal share from a light lager)?(Required)

No. We don’t offer anything like this, so I don’t see it affecting our beer sales.

Some people may buy this over an existing beer brand, but not enough to really worry about.

Yes, I’m worried that we could potentially lose significant beer sales to people who decide to purchase this new product in place of one of our other beers.

12/14

Do you think this new product could create (or reinvigorate) interest in your brewery’s parent brand and overall portfolio?(Required)

Yes, this product is similar enough to the rest of our portfolio that I could see it igniting new interest in the rest of our brewery’s products.

This product could spark some new interest in the rest of our portfolio, but I doubt our core lineup will ever appeal to our intended audience as effectively as this new product will.

Not at all. This new product (and target audience) is so different from what we’re known for that I don’t see any interest heading back up stream to our parent brand and portfolio.

13/14

Once this new product is launched, will you have the capacity to actively market it?(Required)

No more than any of our other products. We have limited capacity as it is, so we might make the occasional social media post about it, but that’s it.

Our in-house team will have some capacity to promote this product, but not enough to focus solely on it (we all wear multiple hats around here).

We have a dedicated budget set aside for an in-house marketing person, team, or external agency to oversee brand development and ongoing marketing for this product.

14/14

How long do you expect this new product to stay on the market?(Required)

This will likely be temporary. We are looking to throw our hat in on a popular trend and will retire this when demand wanes.

I could see this catching on and lasting for a year or more. We’ll give it some time and reevaluate as needed.

We expect this to become a permanent fixture in our portfolio moving forward.