BMTC19: Thirsty for Data: Collecting and Using Data for Beer Tourism

Beer Tourism: Thirsty for Data: Collecting and Using Data for Beer Tourism – Claudia Schmidt, Ph.D., Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences & Don Littlefield, Brew Bus Tours: What’s in it for breweries when it comes to brewery tours, festivals and entertainment? Even though beer tourism has expanded tremendously in recent years, most of the experiences are only reported anecdotally. Join Claudia Schmidt and Don Littlefield, as they co-present on the importance of collecting and using data specifically related to beer tourism. Don will provide a demonstration on how his company is improving participating breweries’ bottom lines and Claudia will guide a discussion on data needs for the industry and how they can be collected.

Transcript

1. Thirsty for Data Beer tourism – What’s in it for Brewers? Don Littlefield General Manager Brew Bus Tours Claudia Schmidt Assistant Professor for Marketing and Local/Regional Food Systems The Pennsylvania State University
2. Penn State Craft Beverage Research Network • Areas: • Food Science, Consumer and Sensory Science, Production, Business and Economics • Develop supply chain for local beer ingredients • Connecting the value chain for brewers, maltsters, ag producers • Establish and maintain hop yards
3. Project Work • Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board • Goal: investigate location factors of breweries and impact of beer tourism • Survival: socioeconomic factors, location, trails & tours & event numbers • Handbook on lessons learned • Review of studies: Beer tourism vs. Wine tourism • In-depth interviews: • New breweries (< 3 years) vs. experienced (3-10 years) vs. established breweries (>10 years); • Urban breweries vs. rural vs. “beermuda triangles”
4. Beer tourism – Finding the Right Mix • Beer festivals • Beer trail • Brewpub/Tasting room events • Brewery bus tours
5. Beer Festivals – Local impact • Munich, Oktoberfest, since 1810, 5.6 million attended (2016) (17 days) C2 • Portland, OR – hosts over 45 beer festivals every year (Portland Beer Festivals 2018) • Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) • 70,000 attend • Local economic impact - $32.6 million. • Over half (56.8%) of attendees at the OBF are from outside of the city of Portland • Lodging ($9.1 million) accounts for the largest share of the spending of festival attendees (OregonCraftBeer.org 2014) Reid, N., 2018
6. Beer Festivals- Impressions New breweries • “We are new to the game, festivals are hard work but they do gain you recognition” A5 • “It’s a way to promote without any real advertising budget” A4 • “It’s a necessary evil” A1 • “ People drink too much and don’t remember what they drank” A2
7. Beer Festivals – Impressions Established breweries • “It makes no sense to do a festival more than an hour from here” B1 • “I get something out of a festival if it’s either local, or close to where my distributors are. Brand recognition is key here.” B2 • “I need to pay my employees extra to attend festivals. It’s a lot of work and people get tired of it.”B2
8. Beer festivals New Brewery Established Brewery Goals Create brand awareness Increase distribution channels Create distribution channels Increase brand loyalty Increase product trial rates Increase product trial rates Increase sales Target location Anywhere Local! and/or close to distributors Staff Owners Employees (+$)
9. Beer festivals Changes over time 1990 - 2010: Education about craft beer 2014 +: Saturation of market Niche events (food & other craft beverages) What’s in it for me? Increasing competition “standing out in the crowd”
10. Beer festival – Is it worth it? • It depends: • Location – brand recognition • Payment structure • Pay per keg/ donation • % of entrance fee • Charge per glass • CBA: labor, travel, fees, beer, timing + opportunity costs • Survey your customers: where did they hear from you?
11. Beer trail • Benefits and costs highly dependent on organization • Tourism organization - Listing on website • Apps – Self guided tours • Brewery guild – Build your own tour • Pittsburgh Brewers Guild – Pittsburgh Brewery Trail, guild fee • Trail passport – Industry collaboration
12. Brewery Trail - industry collaboration - Tasting trail – 11 members - Fee for passports, valid for a year - No purchase required - Free samples/freebies, price at completion of passport - Collaboration: meetings required, bylaws, treasury + - Collective marketing Ongoing time commitment Share advertisement cost Additional costs (samples, freebies) Create additional sales Tracking Repeat customers
13. Beer trail – when it doesn’t work • Waterloo-Wellington Ale Trail (Ontario, Canada) (Plummer, 2006) • Six breweries • Dissolved after three years • Lack of time and resources, competitiveness, unclear goals • Self-organized tours, listed on tourism bureau website
14. Survey your Customers • Reinforce information that you’ve gathered informally • Recognize trends • Discover new markets • Align events
15. Source: K. Kelley, Penn State Wine & Grape research Group Evaluation of the tasting room experience for winery visitors
16. Brewery Tours • Brewery districts Source: K. Kelley,
17. Survey your Customers • What’s their age and gender? • How did they hear about you? • How did they like the experience? • Where are they from? • How did it compare with their best pub experience? • Which restaurants do they like at home? (distribution) • What other places are they going to visit? (collaboration) • Would they recommend you? Why?
18. Survey your Customers! • Online survey • Survey Monkey – free account, 10 questions • Tablet • Distribute in newsletter/ VIP group
19. Social Media … • “Beer should do the talking” + social media = “word of mouth on steroids”A1 • “Social media is allowing people not paid by you to say great things about our beer.” A4
20. Brewery Bus Tours – Don Littlefield Case Study - The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
21. Case Study - The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME 2018 By The Numbers… • Total Guests On Tours - 7,331 • Areas Represented By Guests • 44 Different States • 4 Canadian Provinces • 11 Countries other than U.S. • Total Number of Tours - 673 • Total Miles Driven - 17,883
22. Case Study - The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME 2018 By The Numbers… • Number of Partners Visited - 44 • Tasting Fees Paid to Partners - $109,162 • Amount of Additional Purchases Made by Guests - $62,942
23. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
24. Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Weekly Reports from Reservation Software (FareHarbor) • Also pulled for same week previous year • Entered into a Google Sheet called Weekly Reporting Tool • Reviewed weekly and guest counts corrected by owner for private tours • Year to Year comparison by period is now available The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
25. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
26. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Enhanced data collection by zip/country code via online waiver solution (Smartwaiver) was established in June 2018. • Full data set (June-Dec) was exported in CSV format as 2018 Customers • Some data cleansing, especially for Zip Code accuracy. • Imported data file into Visualization Software (Tableau) for reporting • Geo heat maps were created by zip code • This could have been done through Google Sheets with limited results • Also imported data file into Constant Contact for marketing e-mails
27. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
28. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Online waiver solution asks for Date of Birth to confirm over 21 • Created column and formula for calculated age. • Group based on age ranges of 5 years (primary age groups) and 10 years (age groups 40+). • Created Bar Chart based on ages. • Filtered data to show Top 5 States (based on zip code). • This was determined based on zip codes.
29. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Map Source: https://www.brewerydb.com
30. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) require starting and ending miles. • Used mileage for last tour of 2018, subtracted mileage for last tour of 2017. • Created report in Reservation Software with all tours for the year • Ratio of public vs. private determined using customer types. • Cross checked with weekly reporting of Group Sales.
31. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
32. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Tour Guide Summary Report is the key to Tour Information and Partner Revenue. • Hidden (NOINDEX/NOFOLLOW) page on website with password access. • A two-minute report required by guides within 24 hours from end of tour. • This feeds into a Google Sheet that is reviewed weekly by management. • Values are estimated for purchases made, and tour ops issues identified.
33. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods
34. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
35. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
36. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Vendor Report from Accounting Software (QuickBooks) for period. • Separate categories of vendors. • Compile data from Tour Guide Responses monthly in new sheet. • Create single columns for date, tour, number of guests, and purchase categories. • From here, Pivot Tables can be used to display data in many ways. • Copy data from desired report into new sheet and Assign Partner Type • Charts can be created and shared from this data compilation
37. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods
38. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME
39. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods • Through Reservation Software, a thank you e-mail is automatically sent to booking party at the end of each tour. • Thank You, Public Review links, Private Survey link, Referral Request. • Review information from Public Review Sites. • Actively thanking each respondent for their review. • Compile results as needed • Review Results from Private Survey (SurveyMonkey) weekly.
40. The Maine Brew Bus, Portland, ME Data Collection and Reporting Methods
41. Reporting Data Back to Your Partners Zillion Harbor
42. Reporting to the Media and General Public