Craft Brew Alliance Inc's Customers Performance

Our products are distributed in all 50 states, pursuant to a master distributor agreement with A-B that allows us access to A-B’s national distribution network. For additional information regarding our relationship with A-B. Management believes that our competitors in the craft beer segment generally negotiate distribution relationships separately with wholesalers in each locality and, as a result, typically distribute through a variety of wholesalers representing differing national beer brands with uncoordinated territorial boundaries.

In addition to leveraging our owned brew pubs and retail locations, we promote our products through a national sales and marketing network that includes, but is not limited to, i) creating and executing a range of advertising programs; ii) training and educating wholesalers and retailers about our products; and iii) promoting our name, product offerings, brands, and experimental beers at local festivals, venues and pubs.

We advertise and promote our products through an assortment of media, including television, radio, billboard, print and social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, in key markets and by participating in cooperative programs with our wholesalers whereby our spending is matched by the distributor. We believe that the financial commitment by the distributor helps align the distributor’s interests with ours, and the distributor’s knowledge of the local market results in an advertising and promotion program that is targeted in a manner that will best promote our products.

Our breweries also play a significant role in increasing consumer awareness of our products and enhancing our image as a craft brewer. Thousands of visitors per year take tours at our breweries and all of our production breweries have a retail restaurant or pub where our products are served. In addition, several of the breweries have meeting rooms that the public can rent for business meetings, parties and holiday events, and that we use to entertain and educate wholesalers, retailers and the media about our products. At our pubs, we sell various items of apparel and other merchandise bearing our trademarks, which creates further awareness of our beers and reinforces our brand image. To further promote retail canned and bottled product sales, and in response to local competitive conditions, we regularly recommend that wholesalers offer discounts to retailers in most of our markets.