Case Study

Robinsons Brewery

Based in Stockport for almost two centuries, and owning around 260 tenanted and managed pubs, inns and hotels across the North West, ‘Robinsons’ is one of oldest names in British brewing history. 

The Brief

In recent years, Old Tom – ‘the original craft beer’ and part of the Robinsons Brewery family – had seen a decline in sales. Despite winning numerous industry awards, including ‘World’s Best Beer’, Old Tom was experiencing brand decline and was losing out to its more digitally savvy competitors. 

Our objectives were to:

> Increase in-store purchases. Improve consumer recall of Old Tom’s rebranded packaging, incorporating new contemporary labels that reference the brand’s history while maintaining the bottle’s iconic shape.

> Increase brand reach. Improve customer engagement by targeting audiences through relevant social media channels.

> Build desire among new audiences. Target a new younger audience, while keeping creative in line with the brand’s values and proposition.

Audience Growth

Getting in front of relevant audiences and building brand awareness in an effective, efficient manner was achieved by increasing Old Tom’s brand reach through YouTube and Facebook, where these consumers were predominantly active.

The strategy had an audience-led approach, targeting a combination of new audiences and existing fans, combining a mixture of affinity audiences, placements and keyword targeting, based on our research into Old Tom’s target market.

Robinsons Web Image

New Customer Acquisition

Building desire for Old Tom products among new, younger audiences while keeping creative in line with the brand’s values and proposition was imperative to drive brand recall, as future campaigns would need to learn from and strengthen this message to encourage repeat purchases.

With the increasing proliferation of craft beer and ale brands – all of which are fighting for brand awareness, affinity and recall in a crowded marketplace – cut through was essential.

Video Creative

The creative followed the evolution of Old Tom’s branding since it was first sold in 1899 and boasted how, although times and trends change, Old Tom remains the original and the best. This message was supported by referencing some of the various awards won by Old Tom over the years.

How we did it

Return's Results

Over a 3 month period we'd driven:

81%

growth in bottles sold through supermarkets

33%

increase in search interest

320k

number of people reached

Want These Results?

Services used by Robinsons Brewery

Paid Social

Management and development of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and other emerging platforms.

Creative Services

Art Direction, Motion Graphics, Photography and Videography to tell your brand’s story.