It's Friday and just before lunch, a little more than an hour before this year's edition of the popular beer and whiskey fair in Gothenburg opens its doors.
Cornelia Dunge has just finished a briefing for the stand staff at Åbro's stand. She has been marketing manager at Sweden's oldest family-owned brewery for the past three years. With her on the trip from Stockholm to Gothenburg, she has the brand managers for the three brands represented - Bryggmästarens, Ey'bro and Rekorderlig Cider - as well as Robin, who is responsible for the trade fair. The line-up is supplemented by several young people as event staff hired locally in Gothenburg.
Cornelia is full of energy and busy video interviewing her colleagues for social media, but we manage to catch her quickly for a few questions.
Why are you here at the fair?
Events are a very important part of our marketing strategy at Åbro Bryggeri. Here we get a unique chance to interact with the consumer at the same time as they taste our range of drinks. When it comes to alcohol advertising, we have a lot of rules to deal with, but here at the fair we get an opportunity to meet the consumer in a personal way, where we can both take part in direct feedback about our products and be available to answer on any questions and concerns.
I see the fair as a place where our brands get the chance to both nurture existing and create new customer relationships.
How do you think when you plan the stand?
The booth is an extension of our brand, so it has to be good – if we're going to do it, we're going to do it properly, and we want to work with the best. We have a good and functioning basic concept that we largely reuse. It's good for the environment and provides a platform to start from, but we always want to do something new. Marcus Lian at Space Production, who produces our booth, is so helpful. We always come up with lots of ideas and he is always positive that it can be implemented, even when there is little time left.
What's new this year?
It's actually been two years since we were here last. Last year we suffered a hacker attack and then no goods could leave the brewery, we had to shut down completely for a number of days to keep track of everything. So we had to cancel our participation in the fair.
So this year we are here with new energy. We have a golf activation linked to our premium brand Bryggmästaren where you can win great prizes, including branded golf balls and fine umbrellas.
We also have a new merch shop for our slightly tougher and edgier brand Ey'bro. The brand has really committed followers, we make two clothing collections a year and they always sell out. So it's a bit of a side business for us, haha.
Do you have any tips for fairs?
Think carefully about why you are there, and for whom. Then do something that is valuable to that target audience. Don't join just because others join!
