New Belgium This approach was effective for New Belgium. They wanted to create a strong sense of brand identity. Focus groups may have allowed for the broadest possible perspective, but New Belgium is a niche product, not seeking to be everything to everyone. Within their niche, New Belgium needs to be able to demonstrate authenticity, so it needed a brand identity that was stronger, and more specific to a sense of place. Furthermore, the campaign was rooted in the idea of lifestyle, in particular the tensions that define the target market for their beers. These tensions can be better defined by the people who live them --the spots are quite relatable to this niche market. There is a risk with focus groups and an effort to create the broadest possible appeal that the brand identity would become too generic, which would run counter to the company's effort to exploit a clearly-defined, and large, niche.

Unlike their larger contemporaries at Sam Adams, New Belgium has a strong sense of place and community, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. At this stage of the brand's growth, they are a small, niche product. The customers that they are seeking are early adopters in these new markets -- the people within the craft beer niche who buy into the marketing associated with New Belgium's identity and Colorado's as well. Aiming for the broadest possible input is not congruent with the brand's position in the market. New Belgium wants to appeal...

It is seeking the influencers who will define the brand's image. The spots are, outside of Colorado, a market entry strategy. The objective is to gain some early customers who are influential people, whose lives exhibit the brand's values. This is how the brand will communicate those values to others. A campaign aimed at broad appeal would not accomplish this, so the approach that New Belgium took was the right one for the situation they were in at the time.
2. A word like folly can help to define a campaign, so it is important to ensure that the wording of the spots is powerful. It makes sense that the company would agonize over this choice -- this choice is worth a lot of money. Get it wrong, and the entire campaign falls flat. It is good to have a multitude of different ideas in the room when making decisions because that is usually how a company makes the best decisions. The debate is therefore natural and healthy.

I feel that the use of the word is effective. It communicates the brand identity well.. Those who liked the word were correct. Folly is not a common word, and was open to reinterpretation. It does express the tensions that the spots were intended to express -- it is seen as some people to be folly to "eschew life as a professional in Denver," yet that is precisely the brand identity. The founders of New Belgium blew off promising careers to sell beer made in…