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Insider UK
Business
Peter A Walker

A history in stunts: BrewDog's wackiest publicity campaigns

The history of BrewDog begins in April 2007, with co-founders James Watt and Martin Dickie - and their dog (hence the name) - brewing beer in a derelict shed.

The pair met at school and then shared student digs at Edinburgh - Watt reading economics and law, while Dickie studied brewing at Heriot-Watt. They moved back to Fraserburgh and launched the company when they were both 24.

With £20,000 of life savings and a £30,000 bank loan the pair did everything themselves, and the following year were presented with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, alongside the Tenon Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the National Business Awards for Scotland.

The Paradox Grain beer won a gold medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup, but it was a beer competition run by Tesco that proved crucial. BrewDog's entries took first, second, third and fourth places and a UK-wide distribution deal saw the flagship Punk IPA get on its way to becoming the nation's best-selling craft beer.

It was around this time that BrewDog's unique approach to marketing began. Rather than spend on billboards or newspaper pages, the company got creative, constructing controversies and PR stunts to get the brand plenty of free media coverage.

2008 - The campaigns begin

The company had its first of many run-ins with UK drinks industry regulator the Portman Group, which accused the start-up of aggressive marketing tactics; risking withdrawal of its products from shops. BrewDog denied the allegations and countered that Portman was impeding the development of smaller brewing companies.

That December, after an eight-month long dispute, BrewDog was cleared of all breaches of Portman's code of practice and permitted to continue marketing its products without making any changes to packaging.

In response, BrewDog introduced Speedball - in reference to a drug cocktail - stating "we thought we would give them something worth banning us for". Predictably enough, the beer was promptly banned by Portman, before being renamed Dogma.

The 'world's smallest protest' outside Parliament (Paul Clarke)

2009 - A show of strength

A new brew named Tokyo - with 18.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) - was criticised by Portman over the availability of a beer of that strength in 330ml bottles with traditional crown caps.

BrewDog doubled down with Tactical Nuclear Penguin, at 32% ABV, which it claimed to be the strongest beer ever made. German brewery Schorschbräu hit back with a 40% ABV rival, but BrewDog reclaimed the crown with Sink the Bismarck in February 2010, clocking in at 41% ABV.

Meanwhile, as part of a campaign to have a 2/3 measures introduced to pubs, BrewDog decided to hire a dwarf to take up residence outside Westminster for a week. Remarkably, this worked and the law was changed to allow schooners in the UK for the first time in 300 years.

The company also launched Equity For Punks, offering people the chance to buy shares. More than 1,300 invested and a successful crowd-funding model was born.

2010 - Upping the ante

Not content, BrewDog got into spirits territory with a 55% ABV freeze-distilled beer called The End of History.

The 12-bottle run was packaged in small stuffed animals and priced at between £500 and £700 - making it both the strongest and most expensive beer available at the time.

Animal rights groups called it "gruesome", but the trend continued the following year, with a deer's head being used as a beer dispenser.

Dickie and Watt atop the Abbott 433 armoured tank (Paul Clarke)

2011 - Tanks for coming

New bars opened in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, with BrewDog's move into England announced by the founders driving a tank down Camden High Street.

Watt said at the time: “Just as our beers are an alternative to the tasteless, apathetic, fizzy mainstream lagers produced by huge global breweries, our bars provide a much needed alternative to the soulless, uninformed, profit-hungry venues that peddle them.”

Later that year, to celebrate the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, the brewery produced Royal Virility Performance, which contained herbal Viagra and Horny Goat Weed.

2012 - No time for cheats

At the British Institute of Innkeeping awards ceremony, BrewDog claimed that sponsor Diageo cheated the company out of an award. According to Watt, its name was engraved on the winner's trophy in the 'Bar Operator of the Year' category, but on the night, it was not announced as the winner.

In another show of defiance, Watt and Dickie were projected onto the Houses of Parliament - naked but for a single box of BrewDog beer - for more than half an hour, while the PR industry were celebrating not far away at an awards bash.

This was also the year of the London Olympic Games. Never one to miss an opportunity, Brewdog added a new beer to its range with "performance-enhancing" ingredients like creatine, guarana, ginseng, gingo, maca powder, matcha tea and kola nut. Never Mind the Anabolics took a pop at cheating athletes, with a batch even brewed containing actual steroids - though this was not sold to the public.

2013 - International recognition

The recently-constructed Ellon brewery doubles in size, while the third round of Equity Punks brings in 10,000 new investors from 22 different countries.

The business attempts to ‘break’ America with its BrewDogs TV show, while the launch of its first ever international bar in Stockholm is promoted with a Swedish funeral for generic beer.

Another odd highlight during the year came when a photo of a Brew Dog bar in the Chinese city of Changzhou came to light. Watt saw the funny side and decided not to take any legal action, instead commenting: “There’s something that says ‘you’ve made it’ when a weird replica of your craft beer brand is peddling beers through counterfeit taps somewhere in the world’s biggest country.”

James Watt stripped off to emulate Putin (Hand out)

2014 - Making enemies

Another run-in with the Portman Group found BrewDog in breach "for encouraging both anti-social behaviour and rapid drinking" through the labelling of Dead Pony Club IPA, which it claimed placed "undue emphasis on the strength and intoxicating effect of the alcohol in the product".

Angering a potentially much more powerful foe, BrewDog decided to make a beer called Hello My Name is Vladimir, with a label featuring the Russian president saying it was "not for gays", in response to Moscow's crackdown on homosexuality ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Sticking with sport, the brewery also launched its own unofficial bid for Scotland to host the World Cup in 2022, releasing a hibiscus wit beer dedicated to Sepp Blatter. It came with the instructions: "Best served from brown paper envelopes to aid drinking with greased palms", in reference to the FIFA president's dodgy dealings.

2015 - Taking on the fat cats

If the brewers had won support from the LGBT community with its stance against Vladimir Putin, it lost some of them a year later when Dickie and Watt dressed up as sex workers for a crowdfunding ad. A petition saying the video mocked trans women and sex workers and got more than 36,000 signatures.

Elsewhere, the fourth round of Equity For Punks was publicised by taking a helicopter flight across the City of London and dropping taxidermy 'fat cats' from the air onto the purveyors of traditional financial services below.

Elvis Watt and Elvis Dickie (SWNS)

2016 - Elvis has now entered the building

Elvis Presley’s estate got all shook up over BrewDog's Elvis Juice blood orange and grapefruit-infused IPA, sending a cease and desist letter.

So naturally, the co-founders both legally changed their names to Elvis by deed poll.

The company eventually lost its legal battle, but arguably the PR war was won.

The purportedly solid gold can (BrewDog)

2018 - Not for girls

BrewDog produced Pink IPA, a limited edition bottling of its best-selling beer, to coincide with International Women's Day and intended to highlight the gender pay gap.

However, the campaign met with criticism and later that year the Portman Group ruled that the labelling breached its Code of Conduct, upholding complaints from members of the public that the phrase 'Beer for Girls' was likely to appeal to under-18s.

In a statement responding to the ruling, BrewDog said: "We're as bothered about this Portman Group ruling as we are any other – that is, not at all."

2020 - Special editions

The year the pandemic hit saw BrewDog's distillers pause on making spirits to produce hand sanitiser, donating more than 500,000 bottles to the NHS and local key workers.

Beer production continued, with a few cheeky special brews: the Dominic Cummings-baiting Barnard Castle Eye Test, and the ALD IPA, which resulted from some Twitter banter between BrewDog and Aldi over the remarkable resemblance of its Anti-Establishment beer to Punk packaging.

The latter spoof actually paid off, with the discount supermarket taking the product on as Specialbuy for £1.39 a can.

2021 - Advertising standards breached

Not a vintage year for the company, as years of bad behaviour caught up with its leadership. In June, a group of more than 100 former BrewDog employees published an open letter criticising its business practices and the treatment of employees.

The same month, BrewDog came under investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority over its claims that 10 solid gold cans, randomly hidden in cases of beer, were worth £15,000. Some winners had their cans independently valued, uncovering that they were indeed gold-plated brass, valued at just £500.

Then in July, an Instagram post for BrewDog's Clean & Press Hard Seltzer stated, "due to advertising regulations we cannot claim this drink is healthy," but continued with a reference to a low calorie claim. The regulator also challenged the nutritional benefits of the drink that were claimed in the advert.

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