Rogue Ales… and Spirits… and Soda… and Pubs… and…
I say Rogue and you think…
- Beer
- Dead Guy
- Hazelnut Brown
- Newport
- Farm
- Garage Sale
- Brewpub
- On and on and on… maybe even Sarah Palin
What you did not say, just as much if not more than what you did say is why I chose to conduct a case study on Rogue. Not Rogue Ales, Rogue Brewery or Rogue Spirits…Rogue Nation.
Rogue Nation is the cumulative branding power of all that has been, is and will be Rogue. Meeting halls in Washington, Oregon and California in addition to micro-distilleries in Newport and Portland, OR. Rogue products shipped, served and sold across the country and internationally are the result of humble beginnings in Ashland, Or. From the onset in 1987, the value proposition was set and arguably has not changed though almost everything else about Rogue has since then:
Character, innovation, quality or nothing!
OR
Independent craft revolution!
This value proposition began with beer, but it did not stop there. Rogue understands brand positioning and brand extension. Rogue understands the power of community. Creating something that is making people feel special, unique or just more interesting is creating and then crowdsourcing their very own sneezers. They accomplish this by creating content for all platforms that overlaps where it should, stands alone when it should but virtually reaches everyone by being everywhere we are.
So Rogue Nation has it going on in the branding sense, but let us now consider their social media content. As you can see from the screenshot above, you can find Rogue on any of your favorite platforms. I stick with facebook, instagram and untappd, but we can check out the others just for good measure.
Facebook right now! The three most recent posts were all put up in the last 24 hrs indicating that they are active and the content current. All three posts are different, appealing to varying aspects of their audience from an external link promoting philanthropic works, an internal link promoting seasonal beer availability and a video of Master Brewer John Maier talking about brewing his original Old Crustacean.
Instagram right now! Bright beautiful pictures that also speak to varying interests ranging from funny to informational. They are intentional in using Rogue specific hashtags, always including their logo and they call to action spans from an interactive contest such as #mydeadguy halloween photo contest to as simple as check out this beer or learn about our farm. Unfortunately, #Roguenation is also associated with vape pens, Rogue clothing and Rogue fitness brands but that does not stop it from being quite popular among Rogue Ales & Spirits instagram users. Rogue encourages followers to use #Rogueales or #Roguespirits in addition to the common use among beer drinkers to #beertitle such as #brutalipa(1,534 posts) or #hazelnutbrownnectar (2,095 posts).
Untappd right now! I love untappd. When I am on the go, I use it more than instagram or twitter. Rogue Brewery has been ‘Liked’ by 110,013 people, they maintain a beer list of 341 beers having pulled in a total 1.92 million check ins averaging 27,237 monthly. What I love about untappd is that, for a brewery or pub you should monitor ratings, photos, comments and any fishy beers added to your brewery but for the most part this is crowd sourced support at its best and it can feed directly into twitter, instagram and facebook if your followers so choose. On untappd, just like on their website you can do a venue search to find where Rogue beers or a specific beer might be near you, you can check into a venue through a foursquare supported platform, maintain a wishlist and more. I like to describe untappd as a Beerscout app, like a beer loving girl scout I diligently collect badges to compare and contrast my beering to my brother and friends. Finally, as for connection to a company I always love it when the brewery for a beer I’m drinking ‘Cheers’ my check-in.
So here are my final thoughts, I do not particularly love Rogue Ales. When I drink a Rogue beer I almost never think - Woah, that just blew my mind! I don’t think they make remarkable beer, but I do think they are making purple cows. Or purple gorillas and we all know about it and we all want to try it, because if you're a part of the Rogue Nation it's hard to miss out.
