Media Relations and Great Label Design—The Perfect Storm

Last year, the Pelican Pub & Brewery released the first batch of a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine called The Perfect Storm—a beer for true aficionados. Only 119 cases were produced so the Pelican wanted to create a buzz around the 2009 batch and ensure it sold quickly in order to create demand for next year. At $20 a bottle, we were up for the challenge.

Our PR team decided to start with the avid beer drinkers and their followers—beer bloggers. We reached out to several well-known Portland bloggers (one who wrote a long, rave review) and kept the bloggers updated on the number of cases left. These updates were then spread over a variety of social media, creating the sense of urgency the Pelican was looking for. Half the Pelican’s cases were pre-sold and the other half sold in less than two weeks. Buzz created, mission accomplished, great beer distributed. Of course the label we designed didn’t hurt the effort either.