T Shirt Helps Increase Attendance at Beer Fest-A&A Specialty

CASE STUDY OF THE MONTH

Organizer Bill Steigerwald had great results promoting the World Beer Festival in Columbia, SC, by using a creative combination of guerrilla marketing, social media and promotional merchandise. The festival celebrates the world beer culture and provides samples from almost 100 breweries, as well as educational sessions led by industry experts, local food and entertainment. ADVERTISEMENT Together with an agency, Steigerwald advertised the January event with an eight-week holiday blitz. Rather than just focusing its ad efforts on men, the team expanded its campaign to target women. One of the promotional products that helped get the word out was a T-shirt featuring the World Beer Fest logo and the line "Smart Women Drink Beer." "We were able to position within the campaign that smart women drink craft beer," says Doreen Sullivan, president of the agency. "We also created posters and shot glasses for the festival." Clearly the products to promote the event helped, as attendance at the beer fest was up 40%. .