Marketing = BS = everything that's not in the glass. I agree that BS important. Plenty of crappy micropubs are very profitable, and some breweries make very good beer but go out of business anyway. I agree you need to give customers what they really want. I think too many brewers make what they want to brew, not what people want to buy. How many more nanos making IPAs do we really need?
My point was mostly that 'craft beer' has been having this discussion of "value" as long as there has been 'craft beer.' Only now the discussion is between big micro breweries and little micro breweries, whereas before it was just macro vs micro.
And it is a good discussion. Again I agree - well with everything except the BS part. To me BS is worthless, which is not what good marketing is about.
There are a million examples, but here is one that is near to me: I own/ride a 2008 Harley Super Glide. Is it a good bike? Yes. Is it the best bike? No. I ride it because it
is good, and it is a connection to culture and it is American made - among other reasons & values. And I pay a premium price for these values. It is what I want.
People want good/great beer, but they also want more. Provide the more, and you'll be able to make a living is all I am saying (a general statement that is true but not in each and every circumstance).
There is a bookstore a few blocks from me, owned by a local family that sells real, paper (not digital) books that is still in business after Borders closed up and left town. This bookstore is offering something Borders couldn't, AND what a digital book can't. Again, examples abound...
Steve