Alcohol Marketing Strategies and Alcohol Marketing Examples

What are some relevant alcohol marketing strategies for the future?

Alcohol marketing is the advertising and promotion of your company’s brand/portfolio with the goal of building awareness, increasing sales, and enhancing consumer engagement. It also plays a key role in strengthening retailer relationships. With the shifts in drinking trends and habits across alcohol markets, including new generations coming into the market, the rise of alcohol delivery, RTD market growth, specific spirits consumption trend shifts, and compliance with laws and regulations there’s a lot to consider for your alcohol marketing strategy.  

 Some key alcohol marketing strategies for the future can include: 

• Engage Gen Z with Authenticity and Responsibility 
• Leverage On-Premise Activations to Enhance Brand Perception
• Create Memorable Moments that Inspire Social Sharing 
• Offer Virtual Experiences to Encourage Consumer Interaction 
• Drive Digital Engagement Through Innovative Packaging 
• Encourage Cost Conscious Consumers to Indulge
  

What are alcohol promotions? 

Alcohol promotions are specific tactics that fit within an overall marketing strategy and are the building blocks that can help your company or brand build longer-term customer engagement and loyalty. Promotions come in the form of one-off or a series of campaigns that can include: 

• Sweepstakes  
• Instant-win  
• Gift with Purchase (GWP) 
• Text to Win 
• A combination of the above

You can start by running these one-off promotions and graduate to a continuity program that focuses on increasing purchase frequency and as well as customer lifetime value (CLTV). This can lead to a full customer loyalty program that focuses on long term engagement, deeper connections, the opportunity to build up to  stronger loyalty with your brand. If you already have a continuity or loyalty program in place, in-program promotions are a great way to keep up the engagement and bring back inactive members. 

What are the key phases of an alcohol promotion? 

It might seem like a complex process, but with careful planning and attention to the required details, you can ensure that your promotion or sweepstakes campaigns meet the necessary regulations and drive success. Use this checklist to avoid missing anything before releasing your campaign to the public. 

To help you with your alcohol marketing promotions checklist, here are the key phases of any campaign. 

• Define your Alcohol promotion marketing strategy & goals 
• Ensure your program is compliant with national and local alcohol marketing laws (see our Sweepstakes Rules and Laws post for details on this)  
• Build the promotion components: 
  • What qualifying actions the consumer can take
  • Omnichannel activation (text, email, web, social, app) 
  • Age and state gating 
  • Promotion type (gift with purchase, Sweepstake, Rebate, Gamification, etc.) 
  • Purchase validation (e.g. receipt submission and validation) or non-purchase validation (image, social post, hashtag, etc.), Register to enter or AMOE
  • Reward procurement and fulfillment (physical, digital, experiential, loyalty points)
    
• Strategically select primary channels before amplification
• Amplify your campaign (paid, owned and earned media)
• Measure the results and adjusting current as well as future campaigns

What kind of data and insights can I get via promotions?

Promotions not only drive awareness, discovery, trials, and sales. They also allow your company to collect valuable consumer data and to increase your marketable database, and allow for further segmentation, personalization, and retargeting. What can you learn from your promotions? 

With receipt validation (for purchase-related promotions), there’s a ton of data and insights you can get from your customer base. With basket analysis via scanned receipts, you can get insights on: 

• Average spend 
• Total basket spend 
• Location data 
• Preferred retailers 
• Time of day and day of week 
• Brand & category level shopping data 
• Competitors
• Retailer breakdown 
• Complementary products bought together 
  

 First & Zero-Party Data: You can collect more first and zero-party data to better understand your customers and to build up your CRM data (giving you a larger marketable database). The types of first or zero-party data can include contact information, location, household size, flavor or brand preferences, activity preferences (music, sports, recreational activities), purchase frequency and more. 

Should you use alcohol promotion companies? 

It’s best not to go it alone when it comes to alcohol promotions. Working with an alcohol marketing company or a company that has deep experience running various types of promotions, specifically in the alcohol marketing area will save your company time and risk and will usually lead to better results. 

What are some alcohol marketing and promotion laws in the US? 

With alcohol promotions, it’s important to follow the laws closely. Some key legal considerations include the following: 

What are some considerations for alcohol promotions and marketing in EMEA? 

In the UK, brands must ensure promotions comply with regulations such as: 

In Germany, laws emphasize transparency and responsible marketing in alcohol-related promotions: 

Best alcohol marketing examples? 

Some great alcohol marketing promotion examples include the following: 

Sweepstakes Program Boosts Sales & Engagement for Budweiser Zero 

Budweiser Zero drove in-store display placements and boosted conversions by leveraging the appeal of its iconic Bud RedLights. Leveraging Snipp's receipt validation technology, they launched a purchase-based sweepstakes where consumers who bought Bud Zero could scan a QR code, visit an age-gated microsite, and upload their receipt for a chance to win one of 50 Bud Red Lights. The campaign was amplified through in-store via POS, retailed media, display ads, and through their social channels.

Knob Creek GWP Cash-Back Program Increases Trials & Sales 

Beam Suntory generated sales and engagement for its Knob Creek brand via a Gift with Purchase (GWP) program, encouraging customers to try Knob Creek in an Old Fashioned by offering a $10 Venmo cash-back incentive for purchasing a bottle of bitters alongside Knob Creek. Consumers could upload their receipts via a Snipp-built, age and state-gated microsite and Snipp validated the receipts before issuing the reward.

Instant Win Gamification Boosts Holiday Sales for Tito’s Vodka  

To drive consumer engagement during the holiday season with a fun, interactive promotion, Snipp developed an instant win gamification campaign for Tito’s Handmade Vodka featuring a spin-to-win mechanic. Consumers could register to play daily for a chance to win holiday-inspired prizes, including branded sweaters, dog toys, blankets, stockings, and beanies. Winners were notified immediately after each spin, with the incentive to try again everyday, maximizing engagement throughout the campaign period.

Sweepstakes Program Drives NFL Engagement for Jim Beam 

To enhance consumer engagement, Jim Beam launched two state specific register-to--enter sweepstakes, leveraging its NFL partnerships with the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys, offering fans the chance to win tickets to their favorite team's game. Consumers could register to participate at a Snipp developed age and state-gated microsite for a chance to win.

Bulldog Gin’s Shelf Activation Campaign   

To engage a young and urban demographic, Bulldog Gin launched an in-store sweepstakes with an “Everybody Wins” feature – ensuring all participants win a prize. The campaign featured a relevant and customizable reward designed to attract and retain customer interest, promoted via neck hangers and a promotional webpage. 

Alcohol marketing and promotions helps grow your brand’s reach 

The alcohol industry continues to evolve, with shifting consumer preferences, emerging digital innovations, and increasing regulatory changes shaping the future of marketing. However, one thing remains constant - customers seek high-quality products, engaging experiences, and interactive promotions that resonate with their lifestyles. Brands that leverage data-driven insights, omnichannel engagement, and creative marketing strategies will stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market. 

For over a decade Snipp’s technology and marketing solutions have helped brands in highly regulated industries of beer, wine, and spirits run successful promotions and loyalty programs to boost sales and engagement. Snipp’s modular platform with built it fraud detection enables brands in these regulated industries implement industry compliant, omni-channel programs that are ROI-driven and data-rich.