Beer Wine Spirits and Cannabis
Sam McGregor Channels His Passions for Music Into the Acclaimed Signature Brew
Published
10 months agoon
By
Linda CaseySELF-PROCLAIMED BEER nerd, music fan and lapsed trombonist, Sam McGregor loves and lives loud. Before becoming a founding director of beer brand Signature Brew, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, McGregor was (and is) deep into music and not content to be just a fan.
McGregor has played both trumpet and trombone professionally in British ska punk bands, including Grown at Homeβpredecessor to the band Advantage. McGregor has also worked as a sounds digital project manager for X|Media|Lab, co-founded the independent record label CFP Records and, as marketing director for Good Lizard Media, helped musicians promote themselves and develop new digital revenue streams.
This is before, at the ripe age of 26, he partnered with his cousin Tom Bott to pursue another great loveβbeer. βWhen we started the business, we were both fairly young, which turned out to be a real advantage,β McGregor explains. Their youth empowered the cousins to move forward quickly without the weight of preconceived notions of their roles or what a beer brand and its brand experiences should be.
Despite McGregorβs youth when launching Signature Brew, he brought a wealth of experience and business contacts. βBecause my background is in the music industry,β says McGregor, βwe worked with bands since the very beginning.β
The live concerts at Signature Brew have made its brewpub and taproom destinations for music fans, and the beer brand earns a steady stream of inspiration and innovation on the packaged goods side of the business from collaborating with bands on co-created brews. [Editorβs note: To learn more about Signature Brewβs collaborations check out the case study about its recent rebrandββBold Rebrand, Sweet Collaborations.”]
Naturally, musicians and their futures were on McGregorβs mind when the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread globally and birthed the subsequent economic shutdowns in the UK and beyond. He knew that both Signature Brewβs and the musiciansβ futures were being threatened by the pandemic.
AdvertisementDetermined to Overcome
βThe first day of this new reality was a Monday,β McGregor recalls. βUs founders and the other guys in management stayed late, drank and talked through what was happening.β His cousin then jumped into action. βTom was writing thousands of words to our shareholders about how we might need help in the near future because what was happening is unprecedented,β McGregor explains. βWhile Tom was explaining to our investors that pubs have never been closed like this before, I started thinking about what I could do during this time.
βKnowing that 90% of our business comes from the pubs, I began to focus on the website [to replace that business],β McGregor adds, βand then, along with some other guys in the management team, we started thinking about local deliveries and store pickups.β
McGregor along with Signature Brewβs marketing manager and PR rep. quickly grew the concept of growing online sales into the brandβs newest launch, Pub in a Box, which enables the brand to deliver its experience within the context of physical isolation to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Each kit comes with a selection of Signature Brewβs award-winning beers, glassware, snacks, a music quiz and exclusive playlists curated by music journalists to accompany the beers themselves. Initially, each Pub in a Box was delivered either by a member of the Signature Brew team or musicians whose concerts had been canceled during the pandemic.
Prepared to Pivot
McGregor confesses that he initially wasnβt sure if Pub in a Box would succeed. βI didnβt think we would sell even one,β he explains, but I also thought, βletβs just do it anyway.ββ He knew that Signature Brew needed to do something, and he also knew that they could pivot quickly.
The brand had recently worked with its design agency on a rebrand, which gave the Signature Brew team both a deeper understanding of the brand identity and the visual branding tools to create a new offering. βWe had a lot of the stuff ready to go,β he explains. βWe had packaging in the warehouse, and we had a lot of beer in tankβbeer that would have gone to waste if we hadnβt launched this product.β
AdvertisementPub in a Box is successfully delivering a new revenue stream and driving brand awareness for Signature Brew. The innovation was even spotlighted in the arts and entertainment website, Time Out. βThe reaction to Pub in a Box is amazing,β McGregor remarks. βItβs got our beer into so many new peopleβs hands, and Iβm looking forward to trying to get those people to continue to be Signature Brew fans after this has finished.β
At time of publication, the U.K. is still under stay-at-home orders. The Pub in a Box offering continues to deliver the Signature Brew brand experience despite the need to physically distance, but musicians no longer deliver the boxes. βAs much as we would have wanted to build this giant workforce of people who could deliver the boxes,β McGregor explains, βwe had to move to delivery by national courier for the safety of the musicians.β
McGregor hasnβt forgotten about the musician community, though. Heβs currently innovating the next offering to aid musicians, which McGregor says will be a live event where multiple bands will play and the Signature Brew team will be serving beers and nosh.
Linda Casey is the editor-in-chief of BXP.
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