Cheers to Anchor Brewing Company

As a Bay Area native and teenager, I fondly recall my beer bottle collection. One of my favorites was the Anchor Steam classic design brown bottle. Little did I know that this affection for beer would become my career. After graduate school I went into the advertising agency biz as a marketing research analyst. One of the first accounts I worked on was California Cooler. I fell in love with the beverage business from then on. After a few brand and international positions, I landed at a goliath beer distributor in San Francisco. Golden Brands had all the best brands, including Anchor Steam.

In my marketing role, I developed relationships with local media. One account executive asked me to pitch a 49ers program to Fritz Maytag, owner of Anchor Brewing Company. I had met Fritz at a recent annual business plan meeting so I asked him to chat about the proposal.

As I entered the Anchor building, I was enticed by the smell of the steam nectar permeating the air. Was I in heaven I wondered? Fritz was a larger than life, extremely sharp guy who knew his brand. It was a family member. After showing me around the brewery we sat down. I pitched him the TV package and he showed no reaction. He explained to me that Anchor Steam is an original craft beer with decades of brand equity invested in it. He told me how he and his family resurrected the company and that he would not be deviating from the marketing strategy that helped him achieve near national distribution.

As a marketing executive, I got schooled that day and deserved it. This guy, like Jim Koch, Ken Grossman and a few others helped create our industry. But I want to share a bit more.

One day while in my office I got a lunch invitation. It was with two very high-level Sapporo executives. We went to lunch where they proceeded to ask me everything, I knew about the craft beer business. Were they thinking about a craft beer extension from the Sapporo brand I wondered? I got that wrong too.

After Fritz sold Anchor to the Griffin Group (around 2010) headed by Keith Greggor and Tony Foglio the two began plans for a massive expansion near the new Giants Oracle Park. I recall the meeting where we got to see the grand architect plans. This would have been spectacular. Rather than make this huge investment, however, the two sold to Sapporo in 2017.

Sometime in late 2021 I noticed that Anchor had completely revamped their packaging. It was atrocious and went completely against everything Fritz had built. I recall a senior executive meeting with the CEO and VP of Marketing from Pyramid Brewing in Berkeley. We all sat in their posh upstairs office where the new Pyramid “Haywire” branding/logo was introduced. All my colleagues nodded approvingly at the ridiculous design and name change – except me. I asked the CEO why he was changing from the successful brand image that paid for the brewery’s expansion. His marketing person said that the brand needed a “refresh.” They all looked at me as though they were going to throw me out of that upstairs window.

The moral of this story is that brand equity is somehow tangible. To build an excellent brand takes constant, consistent and meticulous investment. This includes the package, the vessel, the message, the media vehicles selected, the events participated in, the “brand assets” used to attract consumers, the demonstrator coaching/training to generate trial and much more. It is not something to bandy about or change every other year like a new suit. Great brands are built with solid, long-term marketing strategy as their foundation.

I will close with one last comment. For ten years I was responsible for setting up the beer for Northern California’s largest music event known as the Outside Lands Festival. This was quite an undertaking which included a special place within the Golden Gate Park grounds known as, “Beer Land.” Here concert goers could quench their thirst on some of the area’s best craft beer and cider. As the person responsible for all the beer (sponsored by Heineken and Sierra Nevada) on site, I placed myself in the heart of the event – Beer Lands. For a marketing guy this was nirvana – the world’s largest focus group. I learned so much from consumers at these three day long, 20-hour day concerts.

As Anchor’s largest distributor in the US, I insisted that the brand be poured at this craft location. It performed well. I vividly recall asking a young consumer why he bought Anchor Steam instead of the many IPA options that dominated sales there. His response, “because it tastes like San Francisco.”

Cheers to the Anchor Brewing team, Fritz Maytag, the brand’s distributors, On & Off Premise accounts and all the loyal drinkers.