Owing to its 2009 induction into the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame and acknowledgment by Forbes.com as one of the top-10 best-ever tourism marketing campaigns, we will always revere the “Virginia Is for Lovers” slogan that the commonwealth has called on since 1969. Such is our devotion to poetic license, too, that, thanks to the efforts of two Richmond-based breweries, we are going to place a qualifier in the saying, adding “Of Creative Glassware” to the end. In ensuring that their patrons receive more than quality beer, the locations are touting the benefits of engaging promotional marketing, tapping into nostalgia and novelty to win acclaim.
The Answer Brewpub and The Veil Brewing Co. have had cause to knock a few back in celebration of their ingenuity, making the presented glasses more than just run-of-the-mill destinations for their libations. Yes, consumers will always be buddies to beer, but with added emphasis on making impressions through promotional marketing, breweries are realizing that end-users need not be content with having their alcoholic contents going into standard glassware.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch took a look at their approaches, noting how decorated and commemorative glassware options have become “proper” vessels for bar patrons, with the uniqueness of the imaginative goods leading to increased awareness for the breweries and ever-evolving secondary market value for the creative glasses they offer.
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We admire people who hone affinities for collectibles, especially because of the items’ relevance to promotional marketing. Being children of the 1980s and ’90s, we had action figures and other toys as our fixations, and while we have passed or will endow our children with those (if they’re lucky!), we realize that tastes evolve and that anything can inspire the desire to accumulate possessions.
With regards to the aforementioned breweries, we appreciate how they have transformed glassware releases into celebrations, engendering exclusivity and increased demand in the process. Take the decision by The Answer, whose 8-bit glassware pays tribute to classic video games (we will also turn those over to our offspring, if they’re good) and has become a promotional marketing hit, as each offering, along with giving homages to the electronic distractions, features the brewery’s logo.
The Veil has also joined in the fun through a few ventures, including a glass featuring the image of a brewer respected by the Virginia site. Assisting the issuing brewery and a California hotspot in the process, the glassware item also reinforced the value of cross-promotion, a should-be frequent—when feasible—aspect of promotional marketing.
The Answer and The Veil are certainly not alone in realizing that businesses must adopt next-level mindsets when marketing their products. Where they have stood out is by being particularly novel at a time when their contemporaries are perhaps focusing their energies on the ambience and menu selections, where applicable, more so than the holders into which they will be adding or pouring the drinks. The video game connection, we must admit, warmed our nerdy hearts and might just compel us to venture to Virginia sooner rather than later. We would not go so far as to use our admiration for the breweries to say that Virginia is for lovers of hangovers, but we might just prove that to be so anyway.
