Drink It In

People have their brand allegiances when it comes to beverages. They have their preferred brand of coffee, their favorite soda, and their go-to drink at the bar. Helping a beverage brand build awareness and customer loyalty has a lot do with its promotional advertising. This means products like drinkware, apparel and barware are crucial to the success of the brand. Distributors also need to be mindful about where and how these products will be used, and whether or not they promote the particular client’s brand identity.

Promo Marketing spoke to Jeff Lee, president of STOPNGO Line, Industry, Calif.; and Scott Schwebel, vice president of marketing for Milwaukee-based Colectivo Coffee, about how distributors can use promotional products to assist beverage brands.

Know the mission

Schwebel said that Colectivo doesn’t limit itself to traditional, beverage-related products, although items like mugs and cups are popular among consumers. For distributors looking to work with a beverage brand, knowing what the prospective client’s brand identity is, and how it wishes to convey its message is crucial for providing an appropriate solution. “For us, we are a creative-driven company, any surface is an opportunity to make an impression, and we try to cover as many surfaces as we can,” Schwebel said. “We utilize full coverage illustration to communicate our brand’s identity—even more than our logo. Frankly, you have to look for our logo on the cups, it’s one of the smallest elements.”

Lee said that distributors need to tailor their pitch to different clients they’re working with, be it a coffee roaster, brewery, winery, etc. “Each company has a unique image of how they want their brand projected onto products,” he said. “Understanding the needs of the client and company will help [distributors] understand which products would best suit the image they want to project.”