Toronto’s ’50s-style microbrewer, Steam Whistle, is making tracks into Alberta and B.C.
The move is part of the brand’s strategy to create ‘Canada’s premium pilsner,’ says Toronto-based president and founder Cameron Heaps, and to ultimately make the brand the most sought-after Canadian pilsner internationally. Steam Whistle has been distributing in Germany since December, although there are no plans for further international expansion at this time.
The brewer established distribution in Alberta last April and Heaps says thus far sales are already ‘exceeding expectations.’ Marketing efforts are still in the preliminary stages, and won’t be fully rolled out until next spring, but Heaps says it will be much like the grassroots approach the brand has taken in Ontario, where it is the number two independent brewer and has plans to own a market share of 0.25% by the end of the year.
Marketing efforts have ranged from using 1950s vintage vehicles as travelling billboards to focusing on event sponsorship to build brand buzz.
It’s a challenge expanding a brand like Steam Whistle into new markets, since it has been known as a ‘community brewery,’ with its location at Toronto’s historic railroad roundhouse building where it has held assorted events.
Heaps says the key is to remain focused on community involvement when taking the brand beyond Ontario limits. He believes awareness was strong even before Steam Whistle launched the brand further west, due to national press coverage it has received since its launch in 2000, and word-of-mouth from tourists travelling to and from Toronto.
The current focus in Alberta is on event sponsorship, organized by sales agents Beermeister Specialty Beverages of Calgary, and in particular creating a brand presence at cultural and arts-related events. In mid-June, Steam Whistle sponsored the opening of a sports bar owned by Alberta athletes in downtown Edmonton and also had exclusive rights to sponsor a major art exhibit in Calgary.
‘Arts and cultural events are no-brainers for us,’ says Heaps. ‘A lot of our staff work in those areas and [cultural] groups have proven themselves to appreciate the support. They will return that support with loyalty.’
He adds: ‘Any sporting activities are also good [tie-ins, because they] associate the brand with a fun environment.’ Steam Whistle recently sponsored the start of the Canadian Baseball League in London, Ont., at the end of May. Heaps says it’s more effective to associate with a sports league than a team, since ‘you’re not hanging your support on one small group of individuals.’
The brand has also been involved in the music scene, and particularly with independent music. It recently sponsored the three-day music festival North by North East in Toronto, and it has its own summer outdoor venue, the Steam Whistle Indie Club, which is co-sponsored with Toronto-based alternative radio station The Edge 102.
Heaps says the association is a good fit for the brand, since he likens indie musicians with the small microbrewer as ‘underdogs against the big companies.’ Plus, the association with radio helps the brand to increase awareness, he says. Additional PR efforts are handled by Toronto-based GAT Productions.
Heaps says its difficult to gauge overall results from a given event, since the brewer typically has a dozen or more happening at once. He does, however, expect about 10,000 to 15,000 people will attend Steam Whistle’s upcoming three-day BBQ and Blues event at the roundhouse in Toronto in mid-July. ‘[At an event], you have an opportunity to tell people all about your product,’ says Heaps. ‘It goes a lot further than mass marketing, [and] it gets a fair bit of publicity.’
An aggressive salesforce is also part of Steam Whistle’s strategy in the West, just as it has been in Ontario. The team is ensuring that the brand is made widely available in Alberta at the retail level and in bars and restaurants, and is assisting with event promotion. Steam Whistle is in 200 different locations in Alberta and Heaps expects that the distinctive green vintage Steam Whistle trucks will be driving around the province by next spring. British Columbia will be the next stop on Steam Whistle’s distribution route, and the brand will be available there next April.
He admits that as a small brand, Steam Whistle doesn’t yet have the money to do large-scale traditional advertising. For example, the brand bypassed the traditional media buy approach for a billboard campaign by Toronto’s Reactor Design currently running in that city, which it plans to extend to the Western provinces.
The brand went ‘knocking on people’s doors’ to get ad space for the billboards, which focus on the green Steam Whistle bottle and the ’50s-style tagline ‘Hits the spot!’ Says Heaps, ‘We’re circumventing the middlemen.’
Retail analyst Richard Talbot, president of Unionville, Ont.-based Talbot Consultants, says that Steam Whistle’s expansion to the West may be a tough sell, since the microbrewery business is becoming so competitive, particularly in B.C. But, he adds, the brand has a good product, and micro consumption in Western provinces is quite strong.
‘There’s surely a demand there. The problem is, how do you deliver? Overall, it’s a good concept, but my only concern would be that you’re going to go head-to-head with other micros, and you’ve got to understand each individual market as you go across.’
