Strategist / Writer / Producer / Director / Editor / Actor – Employee
Industry
Retailers
Wholesalers
Scope of Work
Brand Audit
Film Production
Brand Archetype
The Creator
The Magician
Vibe
An unsuspecting storefront on the outskirts of Old Town Manassas designed with its audience in mind. The store’s layout seamlessly provides professional and hobbyist brewers and winemakers with inspiration, ingredients, equipment, insight, and community.
Pain Point
While wholesale relations grew alongside Virginia’s blooming craft brewing scene, retail had slowed. Jay’s clientele quickly plateaued as their customers became regulars and no new blood was entering the water. They needed new markets.
Solution
We surfaced two whitespace markets: men under 40 and women interested in brewing. Then, we met those markets with individual commercials, a testimonial and a narrative, to drive interest. Finally, we developed a customer “taste test” web series to drive FOMO and retain clients.
Resolution
Foot traffic within the store and retail sales both grew 400% over a year and a half.
Word of mouth from local brewing groups and hobbyist communities drove regional interest and visibility.
Project Overview
The Where the Brewmaster Begins campaign led to the first two commercials Jay’s Brewing Supply ever produced, alongside a UGC-style web series that would go on to exist outside the campaign.
The first follows the story of a young man interested in brewing his own beer. The purpose was to target men under 40 and provide an implicit call-to-action to visit the store.
The second tells the story of a group of women who gather for bonfires on weekends. It celebrates the value of close companionship, as well as the communal enjoyment of homebrewing beer, creating something new, and sharing with others. Each of these is a key element of the Jay’s Brewing Supply brand.
Additional Information About The Work
Jay’s Brewing Supply was the perfect example of a lifestyle brand that needed an adjustment to its go-to-market strategy. They were at a point where the wholesale half of their business was excelling thanks to external factors (i.e., the regional craft brewing boom). However, their retail half was growing at a much slower rate.
While breweries and professional brewmasters increasingly flocked to Jay’s because of their accessibility and pricing, home brewers needed something catered to them a bit more specifically. At the time, that retail customer base was primarily men, and they were aging. Jay’s customers were skilled and experienced in brewing beer and fermenting wine, yet as they got older, other parts of life such as parenthood, increased workload, and other interests got in the way of their hobbies. The solution that became quickly apparent was that Jay’s needed to break into new audiences: younger men and women.
Our research revealed that younger men were looking for a low-pressure solution to help them begin the hobby. Similarly, women needed an environment that wasn’t as heavily focused on beer but also catered to those interested in ciders and wines.
Jay’s needed to be positioned as a supplier built on trust and accessibility for the individual in both cases. We designed both ad spots with those exact two traits in mind.
Additional Information About the Results
These commercials were run as part of a social-first campaign. They made their way around Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. However, the audience response was far greater than we had imagined. The founder of Jay’s Brewing received word from viewers that they were sharing it via email and text message with younger men and women in their families and social circles. We hit virality.
The out-of-channel success inspired in-person appearances at local breweries and homebrew clubs by Jay’s leadership team. In the end, the success of the first commercial led to the development of the second, “Bonfire,” and a UGC-style taste-testing video highlighting customers’ beers, ciders, and wines, driving further community engagement and return business.
The entire Where the Brewmaster Begins campaign resulted in a 400% increase in customer base, particularly younger men and women, and more frequent return customers over a year and a half.
Personal Statement
I had produced a handful of projects by the time this opportunity came around. It was the first time I was commissioned to produce a video for a business. As of this writing, it remains one of my favorite portfolio pieces as well. I gained a new perspective on commercial shoots during this project. My team and I were able to use our experience in guerrilla filmmaking, marketing, branding, and good old-fashioned DIY cinema to make this ad spot happen.
I had severe impostor syndrome while preparing for this shoot and the actual day of production. That said, my cast, crew, and client were very reliable and helped me keep my footing even though I had not yet gotten my sea legs for this production. Today, I am confident in my abilities to handle almost any situation that may arise during filming.
Scott Duvall 