How else did they differentiate themselves? Harpoon created a sub-brand called UFO, which helped the business grow in unexpected ways. Dan talks about how building a brand and focusing on their connection with customers helped the brewery cut through the competition (even without flashy advertising!).

Now, there are over 30,000 IPAs to compete with. In Harpoon’s early days, they offered the first IPA on the East Coast. 19:24 – Why brand matters when competition explodes Hear a story about how some of Harpoon’s most important fans have come from their customer service (“complaints”) line. What does Dan think about building a strong brand? Dan explains why consistency is key and how every touchpoint with consumers matters. Love Life.’ or the brand doesn’t mean anything.” 14:40 – “Every interaction with your consumer has to be consistent with ‘Love Beer. You’ll also hear why “Employee Owned” made it onto every bottle of Harpoon beer. The two discuss the pros and cons of taking private equity, bringing on managing partners, and straight-up selling your business. Dan talks about what led to the decision, including why he ultimately walked away from selling to private equity, putting the company into the hands of their employees. Love Life.” 7:32 – Structuring the company to line up with brand valuesĬhris asks Dan about his decision to restructure Harpoon to be employee-owned. They named their new venture Harpoon Brewery and built the brand under the banner “Love Beer. Determined to create a community-based beer hall that would bring people together just as they’d seen in Europe, Dan and his partners took sledgehammers to brick walls and began building a brewery in downtown Boston. Travels abroad in Western Europe introduced Dan and his friends to the rich beer culture overseas, which only highlighted the “absolute desert when it (came) to choice for beer” in the US. 1:03 – A lack of lager diversity inspires a new businessĭan tells the story of founding Harpoon with a couple of friends from college. Short on time? Check out some of our favorite moments during this interview between Chris and Dan. Innovating and taking risks in an industry that’s constantly changing will help you stay relevant.Consistency is super important for building a strong brand.Diversifying your product offerings can help you reach new audiences.Here are some of the lessons learned throughout the episode: “There was an awakening … All of a sudden, people started saying, ‘Wait a second, there’s no choice, there’s no diversity, and we’re willing to pay more for a product that we like that has a story behind it.’” On this episode of The Brandwagon Interviews, Dan highlights the importance of innovating, risk-taking, and remaining consistent with your company’s mission and values to build a strong brand that stands out in a crowded industry.

In this episode, we hear all about how risk-taking and being consistent with communicating your brand value plays an integral role in differentiating Harpoon from the competition. During the early days, there wasn’t much competition, but as craft breweries and microbreweries boomed across the country, Dan knew they had to keep innovating and taking risks to keep their brand alive and relevant. Once they returned home, Dan and his friends founded Harpoon Brewery, one of the East Coast’s first craft breweries. After traveling to Western Europe, they realized the US didn’t have to be the desert of bland options that it was. Wherever you went, all you could find were light yellow lagers … and they were sick of it. In 1986, Dan Kenary and two of his friends were dissatisfied with the lack of choices in the US beer market, despite the US having the most sophisticated consumer market in the world. Watch the actual Brandwagon episode here! Overview Or listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher Last week, Chris sat down with Nancy Dussault Smith, CMO at Hydrow, to learn more about taking a stand on your brand, and today, we’re excited to share our extended interview with this week’s guest, Dan Kenary, Co-Founder and CEO of Harpoon Brewery.Ĭheck out the episode to hear all about the challenges and opportunities Dan’s faced differentiating Harpoon’s brand from the thousands of craft breweries and microbreweries that exist today. From tactics to taglines, Wistia’s CEO, Chris Savage, chats marketing with the brains behind successful brands on our new video series, Brandwagon.

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