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Under new ownership, BridgePort began what would be a substantial transformation, starting with an infusion of $3.5 million to upgrade equipment. In 1996, it launched its new firkin cask-conditioned ales campaign (which marked the first time BridgePort had advertised at all), introducing Porter and India Pale Ale. By the end of that year, the brewery had its own bottles with raised lettering and was poised to begin phasing out the old products. The first to go were Coho and Pintail, replaced in January 1997 by ESB and Stout. A complete shift in emphasis followed--away from Blue Heron and toward the new flagship, IPA. At the center of this marketing campaign was the goal of establishing a singular identity for BridgePort through a "family of beers" approach: a similar style of packaging for all its products so that a consumer, looking at several six-packs on a grocery shelf, could tell they were all from the same brewery. In the tightening market, the brewery felt its beers' lack of distinction put it at a disadvantage. Paula Fasano, marketing director at BridgePort, recounts a time when, finding Blue Heron on a pub menu, she ordered "the BridgePort." "Oh, we don't have BridgePort," the waitress told her. "Were we BridgePort or were we Blue Heron?" Fasano asks. The question points to a tension between a slicker, more professional growth-oriented company and the city brewery BridgePort has always been, lodged deep within industrial Northwest Portland's rail-and-cobblestone past. The plan to pull Blue Heron brought this tension to the fore. Even before the decision was made, the brewery was ambivalent about its oldest product. Blue Heron still does solid business as BridgePort's No. 2 best-selling beer and comprises almost a quarter of all sales, but over the past year growth has been nil. In planning for the change, no one at the brewery considered Portland's emotional connection to the beer. After regrouping, the plan now is to go ahead and introduce an amber, a different amber, and leave Blue Heron on the shelves. Part of the reason for going ahead with the new amber has to do with selling outside the Northwest, where Blue Heron sales are restricted due to an agreement with Mendocino Brewing Co., which also markets a Blue Heron ale. Although no decisions have been made, it also appears that BridgePort's own Blue Heron label will be updated to bring it more in line with the company's other packaging. Since the market began to slow a year ago, more and more breweries have tried to shore up flat or declining sales with the "family of beers" approach. So far, there is no evidence that the strategy will pay off. Rather it seems that, as with BridgePort's IPA, one of a brewery's products vastly outsells the rest. Together, Blue Heron and IPA comprise 75 percent of all sales for BridgePort. Still, the brewery is reporting a 35 percent increase in sales in 1997, showing that a brewery can flourish even with a limited number of successful products. In Blue Heron, BridgePort has a potential classic label, one to which the public has already demonstrated a strong allegiance. Even if sales are lower than the brewery would like, Blue Heron's name recognition is a strong asset to the company. It seems clear that the decision to leave Blue Heron in production--if only for the Portland market--will be one the brewery does not regret. |
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