Dive Brief:

• Victory Brewing Company is hosting a five-city comedy tour with Mekki Leeper and has kicked off a new campaign to promote the events, the company revealed in a press release.
• The "Let the Monkeys Out" tour brings the monkeys from Victory's beer cans to life through digital, out-of-home (OOH) and social media marketing. The effort's message highlights that in today's tense environment, people should lighten up, drink beer and laugh more. The company created @VictoryMonkeys Instagram and Twitter accounts to promote this message and the ongoing events.
• The campaign includes a year-long sweepstakes in which consumers can win a trip to visit the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. People can sign up at a new branded microsite. The beer brand will also release a new flavor of the monkey line called the Tart Monkey.

Dive Insight:

Victory Brewing Company is aiming to connect with consumers​ in a contentious election year and encourage laughter and lightheartedness with comedy and craft beer. The campaign promoting this message enlists popular social media tactics and a sweepstakes to encourage participation and help the brand amplify its online following for future marketing efforts. Victory is ramping up its social media heft with a new platform to share an ongoing series of shareable content. Kicking off the effort with a comedy sponsorship allows the brand to tap into entertaining content that people actually want to watch, which may help Victory build its fan base and forge deeper connections with beer drinkers.

Craft beer sales continue to resonate in the U.S., even as regular beer sales dip. Overall, beer volume dropped 2.3% in 2019 — its fourth straight year of declines —​ but some bright spots in the category show that consumers aren't totally forgoing beer for alternative beverages. Craft beer consumption rose 4.1%, according to data from IWSR.

Independent craft beer companies typically don't have the large budgets of big beer brands like Anheuser-Busch. However, their smaller size may provide marketing agility that bigger companies lack, such as creative campaigns and artisanal cache to develop fun branded experiences and social media content that appeals to consumers.

BrewDog, for instance, created a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) network, The BrewDog Network with Beer.Porn, a parody porn site that includes trailers for several of the network's original series and "beer porn" clips. The network features beer, food, travel and entertainment shows, with new content added regularly.