Bison Brewing Company

	Overview

	Biographies


	Our Clients


	Testimonials

Bison Brewing Company

About the Client
Founded in Berkeley in 1989, Bison Brewing Company (www.bisonbrew.com) produces award-winning microbrews. In 2000, Bison introduced Bison Original Hard Ice Tea, the only commercially brewed sparkling alcoholic beverage in the U.S. combining whole tea leaves and variety of exotic natural ingredients. With a crisp, refreshing taste and a third fewer calories and half the carbohydrates of most beers, Bison Original Hard Ice Tea was an instant success. Its popularity prompted the repositioning of the company's brewpub into a new restaurant with a menu inspired by the teas. In 2003, Bison continued its tradition of innovative brewing and launched Bison Organic Light, the first organic light beer.

PR Strategy
Daniel Del Grande, Owner & Brewer of Bison, hired Galvin Communications to expand recognition and trial of Bison Original Hard Ice Tea. His goal was to stimulate sales in local and regional markets while building the infrastructure necessary to attain national distribution. We worked with Del Grande and his management team to develop a communication plan with the following objectives:

• Drive case sales of Bison Original Hard Ice Tea.

• Get consumers and industry leaders excited about Bison's teas and beers.

• Bring more diners to the restaurant to sample the teas and beers.

• Position Bison as an innovative leader in the beverage industry.

• Differentiate Bison from competitors.

Results
In the Bay Area, Galvin Communications secured placement for Bison in every prominent media outlet, including the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, East Bay Business Times, East Bay Express, Berkeley Daily Planet, and Diablo Magazine. In addition, Bison was featured on television stations KTVU (Fox), KNTV (NBC) and KPIX (CBS), and radio station KGO (ABC). Restaurant revenues and per-case sales of Bison Original Hard Ice Tea increased as a result, and the positive publicity played an important role in getting specialty retailer Trader Joe's to carry the teas in its California stores.

Nationally, Bison's innovate ales (Chocolate Stout, Gingerbread Ale, Organic Light) were covered in newspaper food sections across the country. They appeared in trade publications such as Brewer's Bulletin, Brewer's Digest, Modern Brewery Age, New Brewer, New Product News, and Fresh Cup. Del Grande was also interviewed on the nationally broadcast radio program "Cooking with Chef Piero" (Cable Radio Network).

In February 2003, Del Grande closed the restaurant to focus on wholesale brewing for restaurants, bars, and retailers. The restaurant, which had received favorable reviews as a result of our public relations efforts, consumed most of Del Grande's time. Wholesale distribution, on the other hand, represented greater growth potential for Bison. We worked with Del Grande to make sure his story emphasized the positive factors behind this business decision, and to avoid any negative misinterpretations.

In other capacities, Galvin Communications assisted Bison in the planning and promotion of a 2002 mayoral debate between Berkeley candidates Shirley Dean and Tom Bates. The event, hosted at the brewery, was the highest attended debate of the campaign season and gave Bison positive visibility within the community. In addition, we worked to develop the "Bison Call," the brewery's first high-quality HTML newsletter sent out to a database of over 2,500 past and present customers.