Beer is one of the most popular and highly valued beverages in most cultures; there is even a Mesopotamian goddess of beer. The American industry has hundreds of varieties, many of which – including Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) – have managed to create a well-known image customers can easily recall. Even for prevalent beer products, having a public relations (PR) team is essential. In the late 90’s PBR saw such a huge drop in sales and consumer demand that many analysts concluded it would be impossible to restore the brand; however, public relations proved itself worthy against advertising in a time when Bud, Coors, and Miller were taking over the industry through multimillion dollar advertising campaigns. Public relations revived PBR by combining communication channels – one-on-one, hosting events, and public media – with their message: authenticity, to target there audience, sub-cultures of hard working Americans who distrust marketing ads and hate “the man”.
One-on-one channels are very personal but risky due to low reach and high cost; however, this tactic was perhaps the most effective for PBR. This face-to-face communication began with a representative handing out free PBR at bars in the local Portland area. He did not advertise the beer or dress corporate. He simply handed out great quality at a cheap price in a time of low economic downturn. The public relations team understood this is what consumers wanted, and good customer service spreads by word of mouth faster and more authentically than the company could have promoted themselves. Most importantly, this let their consumers create the image of PBR through passing the message along to others who have similar social beliefs. These would become PBR’s loyal fans.
Hosting events was a large part of success, even though it had a low audience reach. They began by sponsoring Portland’s local mainstream community events. PBR hosted free music and art shows, often having contests give away prizes, free food, drinks, and fun. Shows they sponsored were mostly indie such as the “Tiny Bikeshop Concert” and live painting such as the “Execute Rogue Citizen Gallery 13”. This allowed them to target the desired audience and bond these individuals’ novel experience with PBR. Perhaps more importantly than who they sponsored is who they didn’t sponsor. Kid Rock and snowboarders offered to endorse the PBR name, yet they were publicly rejected. PBR made sure people knew that they were not in it for large endorsements with big names; they were a drink for the average individual. In this way Public relations kept PBR’s authenticity by not advertising.
Finally public media was used to create awareness of the PBR brand toward a high reach of individuals by radio and websites. PBR sponsored Public National Radio a station of listeners interested in cultural programming received PBR’s message. These tactics revived PBR, but Public relations did not stop. Today public media sustains the image through the Pabst Brewing company website’s witty, authentic, and passionate writing concerning the Pabst product, history, awards, and distributors. Also PBR was identified as a hard-working American man’s beer in the 2008 movie Gran Torino as it was the main character, Clint Eastwood’s drink of choice. Along with keeping up with the twenty-first century trend, they also have controlled facebook, blogs, and twitter accounts.
There are so many beers to choose from and all say something about your own identity; it becomes just as much a fashion statement as a refreshing beverage. Establishing a quality name is crucial, and PBR’s public relations campaign was successful in using the right channels to get the right message across to the right people at the right time.
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