Before you book onto another beer festival… read this first

a brewery got in touch with me recently.

Not for a full strategy
Not for a shiny new identity.
Just a bit of advice.

Why?

Because they’d already blown the budget on a big trade show and… got nothing back.

No new stockists.
No trade orders.
No real leads to follow up with.

Here’s what went wrong:

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 -

Pull-up banners
Branded table cloth
Nice enough clips

But they missed the one thing that would’ve actually made them memorable:

No reason to stop and engage
No story to tell afterwards
No hook to make people care
No follow-up mechanism
No clarity on what made them different

They had beer.
They had branding.
But they didn’t have a moment.

And without a moment, you’re just another brewery in the blur of beers people won’t remember once the buzz wears off.

What should they have spent money on?

Clarity.

On who they’re trying to talk to
What makes them stand out
And how to create an experience people actually talk about

Because no matter how beautiful your setup looks,
If it doesn’t make people stop, smile, and share,
You’re just pouring pints into the void.

So before you sign up for another festival, ask yourself:

Will people remember us… or just the hangover?