Elevating Independent Breweries Through Branding: With Tim Weaver

Martin chats with Tim Weaver, founder of The Brand Weaver, about how indie breweries can level up their branding. From avoiding common mistakes to sharing success stories and practical strategies, Tim reveals what it takes to stand out in today’s crowded beer market. Plus, a sneak peek at his upcoming book Branding for Breweries.

Perfect for brewery owners, beer lovers, and anyone curious about the power of great branding.

Grab Tim's Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FXS1YPXW

The Brand Weaver Socials

Website: https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandingforbreweries/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandingforbreweries
Podcast: https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandingforBreweries

Transcript

Martin (00:01)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Beer Rep Chats with today I'm delighted to be joined by Tim Weaver. He is the founder of the brand Weaver. Tim, thanks for coming on the show.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (00:11)
Martin, mate, I am super excited to be here, buddy. I cannot wait to chat to you. I've got big respect for the show and what you do. So I can't wait to dive in and have a good old chin wag.

Martin (00:21)
Oh, thank you very much. You're too kind. You make me blush. Cheers. Yeah. Really looking forward to, uh, to this conversation and everything that you do. So let's start with, know, anyone who hasn't come across you, um, and you know, you're the brand weaver. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do and, and, know, what's your specialising branding for independent breweries?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (00:40)
Indeed, doodles. So yeah, I am Tim. I operate the brand Weaver Agency, which is a creative agency that works specifically with independent breweries to help them with their brand strategy, brand design and marketing. Ultimately, I started to focus on the brewery sector because I've got a genuine mission, which is to even the playing field for independent breweries.

I don't think it's fair that only like the big dogs and the big names in the brewery world get to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on branding and marketing campaigns and activations when the indie breweries need that help and you don't need hundreds and thousands of pounds. You need a good idea or you need a little bit of guidance, that kind of coaching or the Sherpa to get you up the creative hill as it were. So that's what I tried to do with the brown weaver.

Martin (01:29)
Yeah.

Awesome. So what kind of drew you into, you know, the whole branding perspective, you know, what got you into the world of beer branding?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (01:41)
Okay, so it's a long and dusty road that I walked to get here, Martin, but I've been in the creative industry for coming up to 20 years now. I know I don't look at stop it, you do the fine. God bless you, sir. I've come on the show again. ⁓ So yeah, I previous to start my own agency, I was the creative director of another one. They are in a different niche industry. I started the brand Weaver.

Martin (01:54)
You don't look a day over 25 mate.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (02:08)
started as a general agency so I would work with lots of different clients so that was kind of like I worked with Disney I worked with big barbecue brands I worked with DC Comics I worked with the BBC did a little bit of work with Bluey shout out to Bluey wicked cartoon did some brewery work some tattoo client work some fitness industry stuff and after a year of operating my agency as I want to like

refine, want to narrow down and be able to help one specific group of people with their problems because I know the merits that come of it. And I know that the reputation ⁓ and benefits to everyone that comes from it. And of course I already had one brewery client under my belt. So I started to understand them in detail. Ultimately, personally, I've had a history, you know, with breweries, bars and pubs, not just drinking in them. My grandparents used to run a pub for a long time. So from a young age, I was like,

kicking my legs on a keg, ultimately, just waiting for them to set up shop and stuff. I'd always felt really fond and familiar with that environment and that setting. And then the more and more I looked at the brewery world, was like, it's such a passionate, creative world where these brewers are creating these incredible beers. But the struggle is, whilst they're fantastic at brewing, fantastic at making incredible beers.

They're not very good at telling people about them or indeed trying to communicate why people should try them in the first place. And I was like, I can see a gap here, which I am very, confident that I can help them fill. And what I do know is spawned from it.

Martin (03:38)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. Can you like any recent success stories that you can share that, you that you're very proud of?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (03:57)
Yeah, I can I can rattle off a load of them, but let's try and keep this short and sweet So last year I won Brewery rebrand of the year with Veil Brewery cask Brewery based in Buckinghamshire, everyone was ecstatic about ⁓ Not only that but it wasn't just the award. It was the increase in profits that came with it, which was substantial ultimately Other clients. I just had a catch-up with one just the other day

Martin (04:01)
You

Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (04:24)
And we talked about a five year plan where over five years, they wanted to have five tap rooms opened and then nine months into that plan at the moment. And they've just secured the lease on their second one, all from profits of like activating the strategy and the branding and everything that we're doing, which is phenomenal as well. I've helped breweries to increase beer going out of the brewery by over 54% increased online sales by 183%. I've increased

Martin (04:41)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (04:52)
Beer Club membership increases by 47%. Like it's wonderful to see it working because there's proof in the pudding, right? It's not just me waxing lyrical going, hey, you need to work out a brand message and how to communicate who you are and why you're different. So it does move the bottom line. And so I'm very excited about that.

Martin (05:01)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's probably a lot, lot of processes involved in, in taking over from taking over an independent brewery to help them brand and market their beers. I mean, I've seen some shocking branding, like ones that just make me look at it. I'm thinking, my God, this doesn't look appealing at all. And then you see ones that just jump out at you and you'd be like,

You might not even know who the brewery is, but because it, the, you know, the can art work for instance, or the, or the pump clip just jumps out and just goes, yeah, I want to try that. What's that brewery? want to give that a go. So yeah, it's that, you know, what kind of.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (05:45)
in fact, I mean.

Martin (05:50)
branding do you think so crucial to independent breweries and in today's market? I mean, it's pretty tough out there at the moment for them. You know, there's minimal access to market in pubs, et cetera. Not looking like it's going to improve anytime soon. obviously this is obviously making your job a lot more harder.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (06:07)
Well, I think one of the really important things to consider when branding rebranding, starting a brewery, reinventing a brewery is a brand isn't just the visual side of things. If you focus just on the front of the can or the front of the bottle or the clip or what your logo looks like, you're missing a really, really big piece of the pie. And I think that extra piece of the pie is quite possibly the most important one, which is like, well,

What makes your brewery a little bit different to the other breweries who trying to get onto the tap right now? What's your thought exactly? What's the story? How are you appealing to your customers who indeed are your customers? Like what kind of drink are you trying to appeal to? Is it like the proper beer nerds like you and I were trying to tick off every possible bloody one collecting like Pokemon or is it the more casual drinking? Yeah, I'm trying. I'm really trying. You know, how do you differentiate from the competition?

Martin (06:39)
Yeah, your identity.

Yeah.

Impossible.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (07:03)
And importantly, how do you complement whatever it is? Is it the bar? Is it the wholesale offering? Is it the online stuff? All of that goes into what a brand is. And then if you've got a pretty wrapper around it, even better, because at least you're going to be visually memorable, you're going to stand out. But there's so much more to kind of get through those gatekeepers before you get to the point where a potential consumer goes, ⁓ I'd like a pint of that. You've got to really, really work through the system.

Martin (07:27)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, what do you think the most common ones you see indie breweries face, like the common challenges you see them when they're trying to establish their brand? it, is it their identity and what makes them unique to everyone else?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (07:46)
that it's there are a number of different challenges and they vary for every brewery that I've had the opportunity to talk to or indeed work with. You know, some will be lack of consistency. So they started off on the right track a long time ago, five years ago, but somewhere down the line, there's been changes in people within the brewery or whoever's helping with the marketing or the design.

Or someone's just got a bit fed up that they always use red on their clip designs and cans and they've changed it to green for no particular reason. Or they changed the language or the illustration style, which is all well and good internally because it satisfies that need to go, I want, I want to change it up. I'm a bit bored with it, but it's actually confusing the end user, the consumer, because they're used to seeing something. They've built up this, this picture in their mind of this is what that brewery is. And this is what I look for. So that's one big one. The other

Martin (08:16)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (08:38)
big problem a lot of the time is unfortunately a lot of breweries look inwards in terms of, this is what I like, this is what is important to me so it must be right on the outside with less consideration for the outside consumer and how to actually talk to the people coming through the doors or picking up the beers and I think that's a crucially important point that of course you're passionate about what you do we've got to lean into what makes you unique and your beers unique.

Martin (08:57)
Yeah, definitely.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (09:05)
but it has to be aligned and almost cross-referenced with the people who are going to be buying it. So you've got that wonderful harmony between the two.

Martin (09:14)
Yeah, exactly. There's a lot of different people out there different, you know, what they like and ⁓ you know, you want to try and reach as many of them people demographically as possible, not just, you know, focus on, I think I like IPAs, I'm going to stick to brewing IPAs.

because as well as we all have an IPA, a lot of people like different styles and you're missing out on a whole new, whole different market to, you know, boost sales. Basically that's what we all want in the end of the day, isn't it?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (09:32)
Yeah, that's it,

Yeah,

the challenge a lot of the time is, well, one of the challenges is brewers, they go, I'm going to brew for me. I'm going to brew for my mates who love the, the impy stouts or like, you know, the DDHs and stuff. But that, that's probably such a small percentage of the market when, know, your wider consumers, they still love a good Pilsner or Helles, you know, some kind of lager or a fruited beer.

Martin (09:59)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (10:12)
And they're going, yeah, I don't like making that. But the difference is like, you've got to have this solid foundation that a lot of people like, which then give you permission to make all those funky and awkward and different ones because you've got that kind of safety nut. Safety, safety, I don't know what that is, but I'm going to get one. Find my safety nut dear.

Martin (10:24)
Yeah. Yeah. Safety net. That's the one we want. I don't know. It sounds a bit distressing actually.

No more children for us. But yeah, I mean, how have you seen brewery branding evolve over the past few years?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (10:39)
You

I've seen more and more breweries embrace the idea of like experiential branding, which sounds a bit wishy washy and it sounds a bit like a pooky pooky. But what I'm talking about here is that it is more than the design. They have to do more to get across that this is what our brewery is about. A lot of it will come down to the tap room events that you see being put on now are far more varied and exciting than ever before.

Martin (11:18)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (11:18)
I saw

a post pop up from Orbit beers in London just yesterday and they were going, we're having a DJ night, but come on down with your vinyls, play 20 minutes and you'll get a free pint. And I love that idea of building a community about people bringing in music and collaborating. And then you had Mash Gang a couple of months ago down in Bristol hosting a Beyblade tournament. You've got breweries in Philadelphia doing a Mario Kart tournament to drive in a younger demographic into the tap rooms.

Martin (11:31)
brilliant

that's different.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (11:46)
And all of these new and exciting ways to kind of get the story of your brewery across and bring people in is really encouraging. And I hope to see more and more of it, not only in the tap room, but on social media, even in how brewers will start to use that there are other touch points that their cans, their bottles, beer mats, bar runners, whatever it is. Each and every one is a phenomenal opportunity to tell a little bit more about your story and what makes

Martin (12:07)
Mm-hmm.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (12:13)
your brewery a little bit different to the other one in an engaging way.

Martin (12:17)
Yeah. Would you, could you like name a few breweries, not ones that you've worked with in particular, but you know, just as in general, like you feel have just nailed their branding.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (12:30)
Yeah, Pillars that Pillars the the lager only company in London, I was actually talking to Gavin Litton, you know, the top dogs yesterday recording for my show. And everything they do the fact that they are so focused on lager only brewery is refreshing immediately instead of trying to do all these different kinds of styles and offerings is just lager variance within that ⁓ they have a strict

Martin (12:54)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (12:57)
Quality cut criteria that they always stick to and adhere to their visual identity is so strong Everything's orange across the board, you know, the  typeface the creative who put it together a guy called Matty Mullins is phenomenal I talked to him a lot. I've got a lot of respect for him, you know, they're packaging from you know, not skimping on Custom like cut labels. So not just a standard wraparound label, but it's got a bit of a different shape to it

Martin (13:07)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (13:23)
Even the bottles of Stumpy Bottles versus your standard larger bottles or taller bottles, I should say, or the box that they create. It's just got a space for writing the recipient's name on it. And every kind of layer that you go through is just another hint and a little bit more of the story that just keeps on giving. ⁓ I've got a lot of respect for what that team do and wish I could say I did it.

Martin (13:29)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely, you know, when you see a Pillars bottle, automatically, you know, it's Pillars and you know, the fact that they do just lager, that's their kind of niche. That's what they're known for. Everyone knows, ⁓ Pillars, lager, great lager, different styles of lager. It's all good.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (14:01)
Yeah.

Martin (14:04)
So you, you know, there's a lot of breweries that we was talking, touched on earlier about, you know, lot of breweries fighting for attention on shelves and in bars and whatnot. What would you say would be the bulletproof?

bullet point top five things that independents can do to stand out.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (14:26)
Okay, the, I can do five. So the first three related. No, no, I was just thinking, can I get to five? Of course I can get to five. I just have to work out which ones are the important ones in this list or the most important, because they're all important, everyone. Everyone do all of the things. But top three, first one is to understand your strengths, right? So look beyond, we make good quality beer and use top quality products and ingredients, because every bugger says that, okay?

Martin (14:30)
You can do three if you want.

Yeah.

and everyone probably does.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (14:56)
You're not going to get a brewery guy tell you what, we'll use the crap stuff from around the back. I there could be a brand out there that's like, well, we try, but we'll find out. So you've got to look beyond the cliche and go, well, what's your story? What makes you a little bit different? actually outside of the ingredients, unless they're incredibly unique ingredients you can't find anywhere else. Like, is it your location? Is it your personal history? Is it you've got a fondness for

Martin (14:59)
Yeah, we get the leftovers and do our best.

Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (15:27)
I don't know, playing the bagpipes and you you play the bagpipes to your beers as they brew, you know, even that in itself is an individual angle that you can pull through and you're going to be remembered for. Is it the brew house used to be an old school? You know, are you based in the, I don't know, wherever zero gravity, sort it, you know, what's unique to you about you and about the brewery. That's point one. And don't do it in isolation. Don't do it in a silo. Talk to your team.

Martin (15:47)
You

Tim - The Brand Weaver (15:57)
Because everyone's got to be on board with going, yeah, I feel that too. I think that is right. That's something a little bit different about how we go about things. Point two, and I've said it earlier on in the chat, is to understand who your drinker is. Because if you go, well, we're a brewery and we make beer for everyone, then you're talking to everyone, which means you're talking to no one. You can't single in, you can't identify, you can't engage with anyone because you're having to be so broad.

Martin (16:05)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (16:25)
that everything you said is just noise and everyone's heard it before. So work out who is your target market? If it's the end consumer, is it, you know, the casual consumer? Is it the ticker? Is it the collector? Is it the experiential drinker? Or if you have another goal about national growth, it might not actually be the consumer. You know, unless you've got an online store, it's like, what did the distributors want to see? What did the wholesaler stockists want to see? You know, who are these target markets and what do they want?

and then go into a bit of research to find out about that. Have a chat to them in your tap room, conduct some interviews online, do a bit of searching on Google, pull that all in. Third one is what are your competition up to? Now, not as important, but I still feel it's valuable. something that I do in the process, which is to go, we have 700 odd, 800 breweries in the UK alone. So it's quite hard to be original without a bit of research.

So look at who you're standing shoulder to shoulder with. Look at who's competing, who's trying to take taps from you or who they put you next to in the bottle shops. See what their messaging is. See what their language is. See what visuals they use. Cause where they say, where they zig, you want to zag ultimately. You want to be able to clearly communicate your value and difference from, excuse me, the competition. Once you've got all that, that is a phenomenal foundation to create a brand from.

and we haven't even created a bloody logo or a can design, right? This is just a foundation of knowledge that you can feel so confident because you can make informed choices out of all of that great content. Then it's about going, okay, now let's establish our story. So this would be the fourth point. What is your brand story? What is your brand purpose taking into account what you're great at, what your target kind of consumer is or target audience member is and what separates you from the competition. Work that out, distill it.

Martin (17:54)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (18:20)
Work out your unique tone of voice so you sound different to every other bugger out there who's just using chat GPT. And then fifth, look at the visuals and the experience. Take what that story is and bring it to life in physical ways and visual ways. Don't just say, we've got this wonderful story about being, you know, 500 years old and, you know, brewed in the back of my granddad's armpit. Like actually show that, bring it to life with the textures that you use, the narratives that you have.

Martin (18:44)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (18:49)
what your bottles look like, you know, what just how you package and how you deliver it and even the events that you put on and who you partner with has to echo that hard work that you put in before. And it just, keep on ticking those boxes as you move through. It's like, keep on running it back. Does this reflect our story? Does this really tell people who our brand is? If it doesn't tweak it, change it because it's so important to consistently tell that narrative, tell that story. Cause over time people will go,

yeah, you're the brewery that does X or you are the Y Brewery. And as soon as you've got that kind of message out there, it will pay dividends for you.

Martin (19:26)
Yeah, definitely. And 100%. Was that was that five? It was five point 5.1. Awesome. And there was a lot of content there. I think that'd be very, you know, good for for any independent brewery who are one, two, three years in wanting to, you know, get their brand more out there. I think there's some some good points mentioned there. So ⁓

Tim - The Brand Weaver (19:30)
It was five with a couple of extras like 0.5 sprinkled in.

Martin (19:56)
Do you think customers are starting to expect more from independent breweries with the storytelling and their purpose and what their breweries support? So instance, you've got some breweries that are quite political, ⁓ won't mention any names. And then you have others who are more for diversity and inclusivity. So do you think customers are kind of looking out for that story?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (20:24)
I think the newer generation of drinkers are, yeah, because older demographics, older generations, they've already found the beers they like, you know, that's good. We're happy. We're setting our ways a lot of the time. But for newer waves of drinkers, then there is, they want more from a brewery because

Martin (20:28)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (20:44)
of how society and communities have shifted and the fact that we've gone through COVID, more and more people are looking for this place of like, belonging or I want to be part of something, which is what

Martin (20:54)
Yeah, it's like more of

the experience, isn't it, for them more than anything else.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (20:58)
Exactly, mate. And even, you know, you see the shift in those who are actually drinking alcohol versus, you know, low and no, or zebra striping, the idea of, well, let's just go and find somewhere that serves great beer is not at the top of the list anymore. Let's go somewhere where we're going to have a great time a great experience. If they've got great beer, that's a bonus. Now, this isn't for every, you know, drinker and consumer out there. That's just some

And, you know, I read the SIBA report the other day and I posted about it that like 25% of Gen Z's are now like in a bit of cask, which is awesome. So you can see, again, even in that statistic, like cask has heritage, it's got a story, it's got this sense of history and kind of craft to it that

Martin (21:30)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (21:44)
different generation are now looking for like that sense of belonging and purpose. Yeah, I love this not only because you know, it tastes great, but look at the history that goes into it. Look at the story that I want to tell. And so there's so much more beyond the liquid now that different types of audiences in different markets are looking for. So it plays in a brewery's favour to recognise that and bring it to life.

Martin (21:53)
Yeah. Yeah.

Do you not think it's also that cask is priced cheaper than keg beer?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (22:11)
Dude, yeah, there is the argument that, you know,

if they're down at spoons, they can pick up a pint of cask for £2.50. It's still a cask of like, it's I hope that is a bridging beer, right? You know, you've had a cheap pint of cask, but actually you go, actually, I do like this. I wonder what else is going on in my eyes.

Martin (22:17)
Not a Doom Bar please, not Ruddles. No Ruddles or Doom Bar. can't, I mean...

It could also put people off if it's

their bridging beer.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (22:38)
I'm going to see the positive. think there's too much negative in the brewing world. I always opt to see the positive, my man.

Martin (22:41)
I'm just trying to see

the angle from both sides, you see. Like, yes, it's definitely bridging.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (22:46)
Yeah, it's not that I'm ignoring the negative by any means, but I just

want to go. We've got an opportunity here. Let's be positive and look at what we've done on it.

Martin (22:51)
100%, 100

% we have got an opportunity to get young drinkers into cask beer. And if it is mainly because they want the culture, the history of it, or if it's the pricing point, whatever one it is, let's grab ahold of them. Let's get them interested and let's broaden their cask beer experience because there's more to cask than just Ruddles and Doom Bar.

But that's just my personal opinion, but there you go. So, ⁓ let's talk a bit more about you and you've got an exciting book coming out. ⁓ could you tell us a bit about what it's about and what inspired you to write it?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (23:35)
Yeah,

so you're completely right. This is first time I've talked about it on a podcast. I've, I've, ⁓ yeah. Tune into the beer rep for more exclusive content. You need a Patreon site to unlock it. I'll do a series of voice prompts afterwards. ⁓ So yeah, I am in the process of writing a book. Well, the book is written and it's now going through its second phase review as it were. I've been

Martin (23:39)
Woohoo, another exclusive. I love exclusives.

There you go, I'm gonna caption that, I'm gonna use that.

it in.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (24:03)
very lucky to have a number of people who read through it on my behalf as well and go, it's not bad or what the hell are you talking about here? Or I don't understand that or please help or you shouldn't you be talking about this here? ⁓ And it's called Branding for Breweries much like everything that I try and do for breweries is called, you know, the podcast, the Instagram account, the book. just figure it's easier for Google. ⁓ And it is my brand strategy process from start to finish.

Martin (24:10)
You

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (24:31)
Literally, if someone doesn't want to pay to work with me, buy the book, find the time and do it. Like those five points that I talked to you about earlier on, I break that down systematically over 19 chapters from understanding your inner strengths to how to conduct focus groups, the questions to ask, how to conduct competitor analysis, what you then do with all of that information. How do you create brand messages? How do you establish a tone of voice?

How would you then implement it into customer touch points? It is all there. And the reason being is, like I said at the start, my mission is to even the playing field for independent breweries, right? If they have the time, get the book and they will be able to create a fantastic brand strategy. It's as simple as that. I'm not here to make millions and millions of pounds. I'm genuinely here to help an industry and a set of wonderful people.

do phenomenal things because brewing and beer is such an incredible culture. it has such an incredible history. It's a phenomenal glue to our society and what we do creates so many connections, creates so many great conversations. It is my opportunity to give back and I'm not charging through the nose for it. It's not like a £50 book and then you can pay £150 for my online course. It's going to be like five quid, six quid, like the price of a can and then

run with it, go with it, do what you want. And if you've got questions, then you can DM me afterwards or drop me an email.

Martin (26:03)
Yeah, definitely. It sounds really good. Can it be useful for anyone working in beer or in hospitality? Could you apply the same sort of foundations that you've written in your book and apply it to your own brand, even if it's not an independent brewery?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (26:20)
I would say so it would take a little bit more, a little bit, yeah, a little bit more kind of like extrapolated thinking because there are core fundamentals about creating a brand that go into that. But because of my focus and my purpose, it is written with breweries in mind, like knowing general goals of a brewery, the general kind of audiences, the general challenges they come up with. But still, if you weren't operating in the brewery space or you in the drinks industry, it would be very applicable.

Martin (26:22)
A little bit of tweaking.

Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (26:49)
And to other people building a brand, you're going to be able to take stuff from it. But there's probably better books out there, you know, which are more direct and applying to what you need to do.

Martin (26:55)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. So if a brewery owner picks up your book, what's one key lesson they'll be able to take away and put into practice straight away.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (27:08)
straight away. mean, the first one is understanding the merit of why branding and marketing within a brewery is so very important. Because unlike a lot of industries, breweries have a significant amount of touch points, you know, ones that they control and ones that they don't. So from their tap room through to online through to into a pub, a club, a bottle shop.

Martin (27:09)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (27:36)
you know, social media, articles, distribution, it's quite possibly the most varied amount of ways that someone can interact with your product. And just to be able to understand the challenge that you face in order to keep that consistent and tell a story. Once you appreciate that, the rest of the book makes so much more sense because you're like, I see why I have to really take some time to invest in this now.

Martin (28:04)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (28:05)
because it is such a beast. It's a behemoth.

Martin (28:08)
it all falls into place the more you read. when's it gonna be released and where can people get it?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (28:11)
Please.

or hopefully released at the end of the year if all goes to plan. Well you know what you know it could be for the brewer that you love pick up branding for breweries.

Martin (28:21)
nice Christmas stocking.

Well,

there you go, there's your marketing right there.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (28:31)
I know it sounds a little bit wishy-washy, but I want to get it out there when it's right. Like I don't want to rush it just for the sake of going, yeah, I've got a book out. Cool. Look at me. Look at my ego. It's been inflated. You know, I'm going to finish this round of refinements. I'm going to put it out for another review. And then after that, I'm feeling it's going to be in a good place to launch. And then this is my first worry into like releasing a book. So Amazon.

Martin (28:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

They sell books? It's a shame Woolworths isn't around anymore.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (29:02)
I'm led to believe. Yeah,

and I'm just gonna like kind of like covertly slip some in at WH Smiths and Waterstones just see like, because it's all self published. It's not like I can convince someone to put this out on my behalf. Unless anyone's listening and they go, I'll tell you what I like the idea of this book, let me give this guy a load of money and I can get it in front of people. If that's the case, please do reach out.

Martin (29:09)
Yeah, just put them in there.

local li- local-

You

Brilliant. So what's been your favourite part of working with independent breweries apart from... Oh, so we you were going to say the beer then.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (29:33)
It's the people.

I mean the beer is fun. A lot of the beer is phenomenal, but it's the people because I have not met a Bad brewer like in in the way or anyone in the beer industry because they are so Passionate and creative in their own way I can connect and relate to them because I am a I'm a creative person But it's a different type of creativity to what is brewing I played in loads of bands and toured and gigged a lot

Martin (29:41)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (30:05)
And it's strange because I can see a lot of comparisons in like small indie brewery teams, to bands, and they're just trying to make it happen. You know, they got the products, they're trying to create the album, you know, they've got seven or eight great beers, which is going to be the ultimate set. Oh God, now we've got to the album artwork and we've got to get it out. We've got to promote it. We've got to gig it. We've got to tour it. There are so many kind of like comparisons between the on the road lifestyle in that that I can see that I just like

Martin (30:14)
Yeah.

the two. Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (30:32)
I absolutely adore the graft these people put in, but the passion that they still carry for it, you know, time to time you talk to brewers, they're beaten, they're disappointed, the world's against them, but they're still doing it and doing it because they bloody love what they do. And they can see themselves doing anything else. And if I can help them to bring that to life and get more people to sample that passion and try that passion, then I'm a happy chappy.

Martin (30:48)
Yeah. Yeah.

⁓ so finally, how can  people follow the brand Weaver? You've got probably more things going on than I do podcast book.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (31:09)
Yeah,

okay. Everyone grab a piece of paper and a pen because here comes a load of links. So you can connect with me on Instagram, branding for breweries. You can find me on LinkedIn, the brand weaver. We have the website, which is the brandweaver.co.uk. You can watch and listen to the podcast branding for breweries on all major streaming platforms, Spotify, Amazon, Apple and YouTube.

Martin (31:13)
Yep.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (31:34)
You can sign up for my weekly newsletter. So every Wednesday, I'll drop you an update with the latest podcast. Every Friday, I'll drop you hints and tips about how to improve your branding marketing for your brewery. Right now, I'm running the marketing for brewery series where pretty much it would appear that I'm writing another book but via email format in terms of how to best approach your marketing for breweries. So get on board with that. ⁓ That's the brandweaver.co.uk forward slash brewery newsletter. ⁓ Anything else?

Maybe, but that's probably enough for everyone to get stuck into and keep an eye out for the book But I will wax lyrical about that across all the other channels when the time comes

Martin (32:13)
Yeah. Any future ⁓ podcast people coming on that you're excited to talk to? Any guests?

Tim - The Brand Weaver (32:19)
Always excited

for people coming on to the podcast and let let me pull up my calendar because I've got

Martin (32:25)
He's

not invited me on there yet. ⁓ I will add no value whatsoever to your podcast.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (32:28)
I'll come...

I think

it's important to talk about the podcast and what what like kind of purpose of it is because again, it's an extension of the agency which is to provide value and help even the playing field. So every guest that I come on that comes onto the show, I brief them and say if you want to join the show, if you want to come on, I want my listeners, my brewery owners who have given their time, their attention, normally in the van dropping off a couple of casks or kegs listening to the podcast. I want them to go away with at least one thing where they're like

Martin (32:37)
Yeah.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (33:01)
I'm gonna give that a go. I'm gonna try that if they've done that then it's a successful show And so that's all the branding for bros is about So in terms of guests that I've got coming up I've got Richard from flavor and he's gonna be talking about sampling and kind of getting Taster samples into the hands of potential consumers in some really fun and exciting ways I've been connecting with him on LinkedIn for a long time now and he's got some great ideas that

A lot of breweries wouldn't have thought about ultimately. ⁓ Who else have I got? I've got Elsa Cargill. She's a PR specialist, worked with a lot of high profile spirits and wine brands. And she's going to be coming in to help break down like PR for breweries, public relations, because it's kind of not really talked about a lot in the brewing world. You've got marketing, you got branding, but not a lot about PR. ⁓ Who else have I got? I'm just flicking through my calendar now because I can't.

Remember everyone. I've got Sarah Warman, ⁓ ex brew dog, ⁓ used to be the beer specialist or one of the beer specialists on Sunday brunch as well. And we're going to be talking about how to get or how to manage mainstream media for breweries as well. So three fantastic guests coming up ⁓ one after the other over the next three weeks, which everyone can tune in and watch live. And of course, then I re-upload to the podcast for people to pick up on as and when they need to.

Martin (34:10)
Awesome.

Sounds great. Well, Tim, it's been absolutely amazing talking to you and everything you're doing with independent breweries, helping them reach a better audience and growing is, it sounds fantastic and very knowledgeable. And yeah, thank you for coming on the show. It's been a great chat. I've enjoyed it.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (34:45)
Martin my man,

thank you so much. I have loved that. I just enjoy talking but you know, I enjoy talking to someone it's even better. Thank you, mate.

Martin (34:49)
Yep. Yes, it is. It

certainly is. Yeah.

All the links for everything that Tim has mentioned on his Instagram podcast and will be in the description below. So yeah, do check that out. And if you're definitely an independent brewery looking for some advice, definitely hit him up on his socials, LinkedIn or wherever email even. So yeah. And so a couple of weeks, we'll catch you again soon. Until then catch you later. Cheers.

Tim - The Brand Weaver (35:22)
Cheers, Martin.