Resurrecting A Local Beer

Fast Company looks at the cost of the ad campaign for National Premium Beer in Baltimore:

The resurrected brew goes for a second run with a new ad campaign.

BEER: National Premium, a 139-year-old Baltimore beer that died in 1996
NEW OWNER: Tim Miller, local real-estate agent

$200,000// Miller's estimated relaunch cost
That includes $100,000 for marketing, and $75,000 for the beer's first run. Rather than brew it himself, he'll save money by hiring a brewery to work off National's old recipe. He expects immediate interest. "It has big-time name recognition," he says.

$1,000,000// The beer's marketing value
That's what the owner of a similar regional beer--Mark Hellendrung of Narragansett Beer--estimated his brand's recognition was worth in advertising dollars when he relaunched it in 2005. He spent $10,000 on a billboard, and it was an instant hit.

$???// Cost of overcoming the past
"You can get caught up in the romance, but you have to keep in mind that there are a lot of people who lived through the demise and remember people being laid off," says Hellendrung. Winning over old-timers requires time, money, and lots of samples.

This brings to mind Greg Hardman's work trying to bring back the Hudepohl, Schoenling, Burger and Christian Moerlein.  It is tough work and not at all cheap, and I try to support it as much as possible.