Welcome to the Certified Cold Beer Crew Blog!

This is our final Blog post for our Certified Cold beer Blog. We have researched our 8 favourite beer brands and discovered some interesting facts throughout our analyses. We learned about SEO, Keywords, Blogging, Content Marketing, Analytics, Hootsuite and many other cool things along the way.

During our 5 week campaign we used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in an engaging way to direct more traffic to our blogs.

Attached is a video of what we learned over our campaign including a detailed analysis of our analytics reports, overview of our Hootsuite and social media accounts and we get to share with you each of our content marketing campaigns for our beers.

Thank you to everyone who read our blogs and supported us in our endeavours over the last few months. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ObPq2FEJY&feature=youtu.be

Bud Light Content Marketing

·         The marketing campaign I would create for Bud Light is “Become Part of our Bud Light Party”

·         The idea is the user who creates the best Bud Light Political Party viral video gets to join our current promotional campaign “The Bud Light Party” with Seth Rogen and his two political colleagues; and also receives backstage passes to the next event Bud Light sponsors.

·         The goal of this marketing campaign would be to increase our social media presence and receive more likes on Facebook, followers on Twitter and subscribers on YouTube.

·         We would launch this promotion when the post-secondary semester ends; around the end of April.

·         We would promote this marketing campaign on all social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

·         The campaign will attract its audience through sponsored ads on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It will acquire and engage our audience through captivating marketing techniques.

Bud Light Fan Pages

Facebook

·         https://www.facebook.com/groups/95858856210/

·         On this page you can find out about events where Bud Light will be present.

·         Fundraising and charity work are posted on this Facebook page.

·         This page serves as a communication method for people that all enjoy drinking Bud Light to contact and plan events with each other.

Instagram

·         https://www.instagram.com/ttownbudgirls/

·         Ttownbudgirls is a Bud Light fan-made Instagram page.

The type of content you can find on their page consists of Bud Light-related events, pictures of people drinking Bud Light at social gatherings and the latest Bud Light promotions!

Heineken Fan Pages

Facebook

·        

·         On the unofficial Heineken page, the viewer can find out all information related to Heineken. Including: videos, new information, and promotions.

·         https://www.facebook.com/HeinekenKohn/

Vimeo

·         

·         The unofficial Heineken Vimeo page has a variety of fan made videos regarding Heineken. The purpose is for entertainment purposes only.

·         https://vimeo.com/53678764

Bud Light vs Heineken on YouTube

Bud Light

·         Bud Light posts a new set of videos about every two months.

·         Bud Light’s YouTube channel has a wide variety of content types. Within its last 10 posts, it has one how-to video, music videos and interesting content related to Bud Light. For example, there are videos of celebrities like UFC athletes, singers and NFL athletes telling stories where Bud Light was involved.

·         Bud Light’s most successful post was “#BudLightLiving True Stories-UFC”.

o   It received 9 likes and 511,400 views.

·        

·         The reason this video was so successful was probably because they released this video right before a big UFC event. Their fan base was eagerly waiting for the event and Bud Light launched a UFC themed video that satisfied their UFC craving.

·         In the video description they have a link to their promotional website http://www.budlightlivingline.com/.

Heineken

·         Heineken’s last 10 posts have been spread out through a one month period. However, the spacing between their other videos varies; with some having a month or two in between.

·         Heineken posts videos related to soccer with soccer stars featured in the video. They also post humorous and entertaining content affiliated with its promotional campaigns with the end goal of retaining brand awareness.

·        

·         Its most successful video was “Heineken |The Dilemma”. As a viral video attempt from Heinken, the video was essentially a prank played on a an individual involving a his group of friends and embarrassing him in front of the whole stadium in the EUFA Champion’s League game (a soccer team that Heineken sponsors). The video received almost a million views and received 3K likes.

Prank videos created by large companies always do well, even more so when it relates to large soccer tournaments like in this video’s case.

Bud Light vs Heineken on Instagram

Bud Light

·         Posts roughly twice per week.

·         Does not follow the 50/50 rule; however, some posts promote Bud Light more than others. On Instagram, Bud Light just posts pictures for awareness rather than promotion.

·        

·         Its most successful recent post (within the last 10 posts), was posted 6 weeks ago. The post was the launch of its promotional campaign “The Bud Light Party”. The picture consists of Seth Rogen and comedian Amy Shcumer on a podium holding a Bud Light bottle. The picture is in black and white except the bottle which has a radiant blue glow hinting their liberal idealisms. The reason this post was so successful was because of two main reasons:

o   The celebrities: Seth Rogen and Amy Shcumer.

o   The political party reference to the current political hype that is taking place in the US.

·         The picture received 2,000 likes.

Heineken

·         Heineken does not post avidly; its most recent post was 18 weeks ago.

·         Scrolling through Heineken’s Instagram, you can easily perceive their brand. Their previous ad campaign #headingoutwith gave a bohemian perception; enticing consumers to head out and experience new, strange situations and companions alongside their beer. After that campaign, their Instagram launched another campaign targeting a different psychographic; they posted drawings of characters that appeared on bottles. After 8 posts, they launched another campaign with their current slogan “open your world” and began posting content related to the sponsorship of the movie Spectre (James Bond).

·         Their page does not follow the 50/50 rule either. Heineken posts very little about their brand, instead, their posts focus is more about the message that they want to deliver to the viewer.

·        

·         Their most successful post was their most recent post of which is directly related to the latest James Bond movie. Given its large fan base, the relation to the movie attracted attraction to the post and as a result brought the post more likes than their other posts.

·         The picture received 1,135 likes.

Sleeman vs Stella Artois on Instagram

This social media platform that will be talked about in this discussion is different from others because it requires using effective images and videos more than creating written content like they did on Facebook and Twitter.

When looking at these two historic brands, both brands are still on the same boat and have the ability to post content but unfortunately they lack the capability to keep their content on a consistent basis by only posting content once or twice a week. The type of content that each brand posts is mostly promotional post about their beer products like Sleeman has done for the dark chocolate beer and introducing a bundle beer case that include all type of Sleeman beer. Sleeman also uses warm colours and good quality photos that attract multiple senses of the consumer and almost makes them feel thirsty for a beer…or is that just me? Stella on the other hand does pretty much uses similar strategies and produces the same type of content that incorporate a lot of good quality images but are mostly posted to promote a product or an event that Stella Artois is a part of or promoting one the their biggest promotional ideas which is the #BuyALadyADrink chalice. 

Stella Artois Instagram post for #BuyALadyADrink campaign.

Now, let’s talk about the description features each brand uses. Sleeman Brewery uses a couple of features which include posting links that go to their company website or if there are holding events they will post links to the event page on Facebook or event page on their website. Sleeman also uses certain keywords but still lack the effectiveness of incorporating good keywords. Some keywords include; “Notoriously Good Beer” and “Local Canadian Beer”. Stella Artois does almost the same type of work as Sleeman does but still get more traffic because of the brand image they’ve already established in the beer market. Some features that they use are links to other sites and using some keywords or hashtags like #BuyALadyADrink or #GiveBeautifully.

Stella Artois Christmas Holiday Gift Promotion.

Sleeman Gentlemens Expo Promotion

When quickly comparing at both of best Instagram posts that they’ve created to the public, you can see that Stella Artois receives a lot more activity then Sleeman because of their brand image and Sleeman being a local brand and only being known in Ontario and Stella Artois being known globally. In the images above you’ll see that the best post Stella Artois created was a post about their holiday promotions and celebrating their long history of the brand. This post received 2,763 likes and 143 comments while Sleemans post received 93 likes and 2 comments, which was a post about the gentlemen expo event that Sleeman was sponsoring. Overall I believe that both of these post were successful because not only were the able to get good results but looking at the post itself, you can see that the visual aid looks professional and informative for viewers to see and get glued into the created content.

Have your say and let us know who you think should win the best Instagram account! Cheers!

Coors Light vs. Guinness on Youtube

Coors Light Canada posts a new video or commercial on Youtube 1-4 times per month. Sometimes it is a similar commercial or video to another one featured in French.

Guinness has posted many videos in the last couple of months, a bunch on the same day. Roughly 6 per week sometimes more.

Coors Light posts commercials about their beer as well as their events. The videos are loud and exciting and fun!

Guinness posts videos about their beer, not so much about events they hold.

One series they posted is called Guinness Brewing Insights. In these videos there are different people who work for Guinness talking about their beer, ingredients, quality and history. Although the commercials are well done, they are much more informative and less entertaining than some other beer brand's videos. 

It is evident that the two brands are targeting different demographics when looking at their video styles. 

The description area on Youtube for Coors Light can go one of two ways: 

Either it has virtually no information or one sentence about what’s in the video, 

or it has links to all of its social media pages and the Coors Light official website as well as a short description of the video. They also utilize keywords and hashtags such as #mysterymansion in their description.

The description section for Guinness can be a summary of the information they discuss in the video, or an actual part of the script from the video. They use keywords such a St. Jame’s Gate, lager, beer, Made of More.

Coors light had 365,113 views, 89 likes and 30 comments on this video about what actually goes on inside the Coors Light Mystery Mansion.

I believe this video was so successful because, as the name suggests, it unveils the big secret of what goes on behind the doors of the Mystery Mansion. It’s a great video that shows how fun and awesome winning this experience would be and builds the hype for this contest that runs annually.

Guinness’s most watched video was the Guinness Nitro IPA“The Widget” video which had 804,143 and rightfully so. This video shows the science behind this brand and how they put a ping pong ball with a hole in it, filled with liquid nitrogen, inside each can and the describes the effects of that on each beer. It is really interesting and super high tech. It is surprising that it only has 56 likes, because who doesn’t think that’s awesome? 12 comments were made about this video. 

Sleeman vs Stella Artois on Twitter

After looking at Sleeman's and Stella Artois performance on Facebook, we could all agree that Twitter might show the same results. Both Sleeman and Stella Artois have proactive moments on Twitter when releasing content to their viewers but overall Sleeman does have the upper hand with becoming more consistent than Stella Artois when posting content on Twitter. The type of content that both brands produce to their audience are similar to the content they create on Facebook which is mostly promotional content about any new products there introducing and announcing or promoting any industry related events. Both brands are doing a very good job when making content interesting by incorporating videos and images to help the consumer understand the content that each brand is producing.

JFL posting content about the comedy festival that they are hosting along with Sleeman brewery. 

Another important factor to consider is how both brands use the 50/50 rule. Between these two brands, Stella Artois and Sleeman don’t have a well balance of the 50/50 rule. Stella Artois and Sleeman both create written content that is mainly about their products or brand and also get engaged with the audience rather than posting content that is business related or target business professionals. Stella Artois uses keyword sentences like “Buy a Lady a Drink Chalice”, “#Give beautifully” and “reimagined dining” while Sleeman uses keyword sentences like “#notoriouslygood”, “local Canadian beer” and “#Sleemanspeakeasy”.

Over the recent posts each company has made, they both have had a decent amount of likes and comments with Stella Artois receiving a lot more feedback due to their large following on Twitter. Sleeman’s best post in recent months has been there post about introducing there new Sleeman Chocolate Lager for the winter season, while Stella Artois most successful post in recent months comes from a post promoting their #BuyALadyADrink chalice where they allow their consumers to buy a chalice to help women get access to clean water up to 5 years for every chalice bought. I believe these posts were successfully done well because both included alt text images and videos and really engaged with audience to try new things that each company has to offer.

 


Have your say and let us know who you think has the best performance on twitter in the beer industry?

Youtube Battle: Budweiser VS Alexander Keith's

Youtube is another social media platform that is quickly gaining ground.  It’s perfect for placing ads on other videos and commercials/promotional ads on your own page.  So far on my last 3 posts about Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, Budweiser has easily been not only the king of beers, but also social media! Once again, this does not change.  The following chart answers these 3 questions regarding Keith’s and Budweisers’ Youtube accounts:

·         How often does each brand post a new video/commercial?

·         What kind of video content does each brand post (commercials, celebrity spots, how-to’s, news, industry related events, music videos, etc.)

·         In the description area, what kind of content is included (links to other sites, keywords, descriptions, etc.)

Alexander Keith’s

·         Have not made a post in 6 months.  They posted a lot 6-7 months ago. Not active.

·         Most of their posts are about types of foods that you can make that go well with the drink.  A lot of these foods are popular on the east coast, especially Halifax and each video is usually a background story of someone who enjoys the food with the drink and why.

·         Their description of the channel is “Welcome to Alexander Keith’s official channel. Brewed since 1820, Alexander Keith’s brings flavour to life. Please enjoy responsibly.”  Below that is a link to their website and Facebook page.

Budweiser

·         They post as much as they do on any other social media site.  At least 5-6 times a month. Very active.

·         Budweiser makes a lot of posts. Commercial posts, promotional posts, celebrity posts.  The celebrity post is also a commercial which was aired during the superbowl where Hellen Mirren talks about drunk driving.  Their promotional posts are about why Budweiser is the best beer, why you should have it during the playoffs and why you should celebrate St. Patrick’s day drinking it.

·         The description for their channel: “Budweiser is the Great American Lager from Anheuser-Busch. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to keep up with your favorite American lager beer!” Below that is 5 links: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest.

What is their most effective/popular video?

Alexander Keith’s

I’m not sure what separates this video apart from the other “UNTAPPED” ones but I guess the type of food they advertised was more popular than others. Other than that, I can’t really see any difference, the length of the videos are all somewhat similar.  They might have advertised this video at the right times.  Check the link for yourself and comment why you think this video has the most views!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzMNjImQl8k

Likes: 6

Views: 212,924

Comments: 0

Budweiser

What makes this commercial so popular ? Well for one thing it was aired during the superbowl and another, it’s awesome.  Upbeat music that gets the viewer pumped, its cocky and fun and showcases their confidence.  They remind you throughout the video why they are the “King of beers”.  Saying “people who drink Budweiser like beer” or “let them sip their pumpkin spice ale, while we brew some golden suds”.  It’s almost an ad saying that hey you can drink other beers, but REAL beer drinking men & Women are what Budweiser is for. Check out the ad below and see for yourself.  As you can see below it, it’s quite popular!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siHU_9ec94c

Likes: 1,807

Views: 13,135,084

Comments: 2,271

Let us know what you guys think! Cheers!

Instagram Battle: Budweiser VS Alexander Keith's

I was going to do a blog comparing the effectiveness and activeness of Budweiser and Alexander Keith’s Instagram accounts but guess what? Keith’s doesn’t have one. Boo you say? Yes BOO indeed.  In a a world overrun with social media, you can never be accessible on too many social media platforms. So for this blog. Keith’s gets an F! So let’s see how well Budweiser uses Instagram, the following chart will answer these questions:

·         How often does Budweiser post new content?

·         What kind of content does Budweiser post (promotional, commercials, discounts and coupons, how-to’s, industry related events, games, images, infographics, celebrity spots, news, music videos, etc.)

·         Is there a description feature on this platform? What kind of content is included (links to other sites, keywords, descriptions, categories, #hashtags, etc.)?

Budweiser

Very active.  On my 2 other blogs I mentioned how Budweiser posts on Twitter and Facebook almost every other day.  Well Instagram is no different.  Budweiser is quickly gaining more and more ground on Alexander Keith’s in the social media battle!

Most of the posts are informational and promotional.  A lot of their posts are pictures of different scenarios with people having a great time & holding a nice, cold looking Budweiser. This is effective in showing the user that Budweiser is perfect for any occasion and great for bringing people together. Other recent posts include one for their drinking and driving awareness campaign at SXSW & about bars with a Budweiser logo in the background.  I’m somewhat surprised that they don’t have any posts regarding their goal light marketing campaign.  I would have thought using photos of different cities the goal light will be going to would be very effective, especially on Instagram!

The description of the page is “Budweiser Life is best lived on your own terms #ThisBudsForYou. By following, you confirm you're of legal drinking age (LDA) & won’t share w/ those under LDA.bit.ly/TheHardWaySeries”  There is no link to their website or other social media accounts.  The only hashtag they use is #ThisBudsForYou which is posted in most of their Instagram posts. The link in their description is to a Youtube video about a tattoo artist, Budweiser has used a tattoo artist to make comparisons to their new label.  They compare the precision and talent of a tattoo artist to how they created their new label.  It’s very effective ad and very innovative.

What is Budweiser’s most effective and popular Instagram post?

The following post was effective because it was relatable.  It showed people who you assume are good friends enjoying some Budweiser.  It helps that the way they showed the Budweiser reminds you that it’s Cold & Delicious.  Some of the comments on the post were about how nice the Budweiser looked.  The better looking something is, the more it attracts people. The post talks about building legacies, referring to the traditions of getting together with your loved ones over some Budweisers’.  In order for beer ads to be affective, they need to show either: people having fun, cold refreshing beer, or both; and Budweiser does just that.

Comments: 52

Likes: 2747

Comment and let us know what you think of the importance on company Instagram pages.  Should Keiths hop on the Instagram wagon ??

Twitter Battle: Budweiser VS Alexander Keiths!

Who doesn’t have Twitter nowadays? Almost every business, celebrity or average joe has Twitter.  But what about beer companies?? Alexander Keith’s & Budweiser do, but are they using Twitter to its full potential? The following chart will briefly answer these 4 questions and I will give them a grade rating:

·         How often does each brand tweet?

·         What kind of content does each brand tweet about (promotional, discounts and coupons, how-to’s,      industry related events, games, images, infographics, etc.)

·          Does each brand use the 50/50 rule?

·          Keyword sentences used by either brand on their posts

Alexander Keith’s	Budweiser - Canada
D Not Often. Once a month. No posts in March yet. More posts during December.	A+ Very active. Post almost every other day.
C They mostly post about trying their product during the holidays or entering pins to win merch.  Nothing to crazy	A Very engaging with their twitter account.  Consistently post about activities they are involved with(Drinking and driving talk at SXSW, Goal light) A lot of their posts lately are to spread awareness for the Goal light and sharing  a link to engage them to try and get their names on it.  The reason for the A is because the posts are mostly similar, no variety.
D No posts about the industry as a whole and barely any posts about themselves	C They have made posts about drinking and driving which effects the beer industry as a whole and they posts about their product very often.
#JoinIpaHouse #KeithsIpaHouse #Keiths	#TackleImpossible #LightTheLamp

What were these brands biggest tweets and why ?

Budweiser Canada

65 likes

117 Retweets

It uses a video to take up most of the space of the users’ screen which then catches their attention.  It has a link describing what the goal light is about and using the word “Canadian” give users a patriotic feeling when they retweet the post.

Alexander Keith’s

32 Likes 

20 Retweets

Nothing special right? Correct! But that’s what makes it so effective and so “Retweet-able”.  It’s a simple post about sharing with friends and family during the holidays.  By retweeting this, you are sharing the holiday joy and the Keith’ name.

Heineken vs Budlight on Facebook (1)

Heineken vs Budlight on Facebook

Budlight

·         Bud Light’s Facebook page has posted extensive content on its campaign. It posted almost every day for its “Bud Light Party” campaign, however the space between its last two posts was almost two months.

·         The content posted on their Facebook page is mostly funny videos that reinforce brand presence, promoting their political “Bud Light party”. All posts are essentially advertisements and on their Facebook page they do not use the 50/50 rule.

·         Bud Light’s most successful post was their Super Bowl ad, with 33K likes and 3.7 million views. In my opinion, it was their most successful ad because they strategically created a video for the Superbowl, a popular event that ties heavily with beer. Bud Light also hired Seth Rogen, a popular comedy actor. Rogen typically takes roles in movies directed to a young audience, around the ages of 18-30, which is roughly the same age group Bud Light targets.

Heineken

·         Heineken does not make regular posts on their Facebook page; in 2015 they only posted 3 times.

·         The content they post is mainly promotional content. Heineken hosts parties in different cities and a couple of their posts were documenting the experiences. One of their posts in 2014 was an assortment of pictures documenting a social drinking space they created.

The “Embrace the Cold” post is their most successful relatively-recent post; it received a modest 4.3K likes. The reason for their success is probably due to the identification that Canadians feel with cold weather.

Coors Light vs. Guinness on Twitter

Coors Light tweets 1-4 times per week on average. 

This was more frequent leading up to Christmas until New Year’s Eve with daily tweets.

Lately, Guinness tweets 1-7 times per day!

Coors Light tends to post motivational content. Tweets to get you through your week. Hashtags like #MotivationMonday and #ClimbOn are most popular. They have one tweet including a promo code for Uber that gives first time Uber users a $20 off their first Uber fare.

The amount of tweeting has increased this month due to their #stoutmoji initiative.

Guinness wants there to be an emoji of a dark beer in addition to the regular light beer emojis that already exist. They are posing from an equality standpoint and are regularly tweeting about that.

Coors Light takes advantage of the 50/50 rule with their twitter posts.

Ordinarily Guinness lives by the 50/50 rule as well but lately, in support of their emoji movement they have dominated their twitter page with posts more about the potential for a Stoutmoji causing a temporary imbalance.

#ClimbOn                                                                             Join the fight for #Stoutmoji

 This tweet had the most likes (953) and retweets (352) of any of Coors Light’s posts in the last few months. They also had 12 comments.

This post was directed toward sports fans. Sport lovers are a large target market for Coors Light as well as many major beer companies as sport watching and beer drinking often go hand in hand. Sporting events, especially championship games bring millions of sports fans all over the world together. Coors Light shows their common interest in college football and is taking advantage of something that is happening in real time.

This tweet about the desire for a new stoutmoji speaks to lovers of emojis, Guinness beer drinkers and people who are passionate about equality, which is a rapidly growing demographic. This tweet has gained 366 likes, and 188 retweets.