Sam Smith-- Beer That Talks

     For my marketing class social listening assignment, I chose the Samuel Smith brand of English beer: specifically the Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout. However, after limited results, I widened the search for all advertising involving any Sam Smith products.

     Predictably, all my social listening produced rave reviews of Sam Smith beers: Youtube beer review videos by private consumers; trade articles by writers from beer review websites; and countless Tweets and Instagram posts by people just enjoying a surprisingly good drink. All the reviews were outstanding. People love Sam Smith ales. 

       Me included. I chose this brand because I don't drink beer. I drink easily less than a dozen beers a year, and if I don't like it I won't finish it. But that is a rare occurrence because I stick to the best of the best: and Sam Smith beers are the best. From their Organic Pear Cider "Perry," to their Organic Cherry Ale, to my favorite, Organic Chocolate Stout Ale. And if you can't see the theme, then I can't help you. That is how I found these ales, from the limited selection of organic beers on the market. Hence, this is what I thought their value proposition was: organic. But I was wrong. 

       It's old fashioned quality. And when I say old, I really mean it. Sam Smith breweries (only in England) are the only breweries still using the original methods of brewing hops from 17-whatever: wooden barrels and all. They even go so far as to have some of their local batches delivered by horse and wagon. 

     And advertising? Forget about it. I couldn't find any: a few old bar signs; a few one-pagers from tasting events set up by the main Samuel Smith distributor in the U.S., MerchantDuVin; articles from beer review websites; and maybe one magazine ad?(unconfirmed); and almost nothing else. I couldn't find any commercials, or magazine ads, or bling of any kind (i.e. a Samuel Smith jacket (yeah I would buy one)). 

     But what there is plenty of, is social advertising. Everyone raves about Sam Smith all day long on every platform. So as far as I can see, I deluge of paid advertising is not needed: because it's already free. Why ruin a good thing? 

I'm not sure there are any marketing challenges facing Samuel Smiths, considering the beer's reputation sells itself. Maybe if they wanted to expand. I can't get any Samuel Smith's at say Fred Meyer. I have to go to specialty stores like Market of Choice. But that would be a serious mistake in my opinion. Here you have this specialty beer brewed in one place for over two hundred years: that's it's value proposition. A brewery which pretty much owns a town in England and is run by a dude who's last name is Smith and lives in a castle on an estate. The beer is shipped all over the world in wooden barrels. I can't imagine expanding that. They'd have to level the town and clear small tracts of rainforest to make the barrels. And for what? To market a superior beer to people who would never pay $5 a beer? I'm not sure the world has enough resources to make that much top-notch beer for that many people. Samuel Smith is a niche market, and I think they know this.

What did I learn from this assignment? There is a huge market for quality, niche products that have almost no need of advertising once the ball gets rolling. There is no need to compete with juggernauts who cater to mass markets.