How research revealed a craft brewer’s path to scaling
TL;DR
A well-loved independent craft brewer had built strong organic growth, with:
- High local awareness
- Incredible levels of advocacy
- An outstanding reputation for quality
All of this with nearly zero paid marketing. But as they entered a new phase of growth, they needed to know:
- Exactly who their audience was
- Their brand awareness beyond their home territory
- Key drivers of recommendation
Customer iQ ran a three-strand quantitative research programme to find out.
What came back wasn’t just validation – it surfaced some genuinely surprising findings that reframed how the craft brewer thought about brand, audience, and the growth levers that matter most.
About the client
Our client was an independent craft brewer, based in Bristol, which had grown into one of the UK’s most respected regional craft beer brands.
Their mission, encapsulated in the phrase “Beautiful Beer,” shaped everything – a truly brand-led approach to business. With a fabulous product and developing brand, growth had been largely organic – built on word of mouth, strong local loyalty, and product quality.
As the business spied the opportunity for scaling then understanding the true size and shape of their audience became a strategic priority.
The challenge we accepted
This business faced a familiar question for any brand at this stage of its growth: what is the true nature of our audience, and how do we grow from here?
With limited hard data on how the brand positioning was landing with the broader market, questions were circling in the heads of the management team:
- Is our national awareness strong enough to support our wider distribution ambitions?
- Are we reaching the ‘right’ demographics?
- How do we compare with key competitors in the craft brewer market?
- Which of our brand attributes are actually driving customers to recommend us?
Without robust data, the necessary key decisions – on targeting, positioning, investment in brand-building – would remain largely instinctive.
“Which of our brand attributes are actually driving customers to recommend us?”
How Customer iQ partnered with the client
The research was structured around three distinct but complementary lenses, each designed to answer a different layer of the same strategic question:
- National omnibus survey (n=2,000 UK adults 18+) to measure category engagement, unaided and aided brand awareness
- Local survey targeted by postcode (n=321 craft beer drinkers) to measure brand awareness, competitive perception, buying behaviours, and engagement with the brand
- Customer mailing list survey (n=543 existing customers) for a deeper brand perception, buying behaviours, and statistical driver analysis to model which attributes most strongly predicted recommendation
One aspect which went beyond the typical brand tracker was a statistical driver analysis exercise to identify which specific brand attributes were most closely aligned to likelihood to recommend among existing customers.
What we discovered
We obviously can’t give away the juiciest insights – that’s just for the client to know and act upon. However, what we can share are broader findings from the craft beer market:
#1: The market is bigger than the ‘committed core’ suggests
#2: One in three craft beer drinkers is female – an opportunity the market is missing?
#3: Taste and quality are important drivers of recommendation – but that’s not everything…
What happened next?
Research introduced a more systematic, evidence-led approach to brand and business decision-making:
- Findings provided a structured framework for prioritising which audience segments to focus on first and what messaging levers to pull
- The competitive positioning analysis clarified where it held a genuine advantage versus where competitors were ahead
- The modelling output gave leadership a ranked, evidence-based view of which brand investments were most likely to pay off in terms of increased advocacy
Why this partnership worked
Three things made this engagement particularly effective:
- We designed the research architecture around specific business decisions, not generic brand metrics
- Statistical modelling gave the client something beyond descriptive data
- We maintained a consistent analytical thread across all three sample groups – national, local, and existing customers – allowing findings to be compared and contextualised rather than read in isolation
Ready to unlock YOUR potential?
Are you facing a similar challenge with understanding your market opportunity or customer potential?
Whether you’re preparing for expansion, seeking funding, or planning your next growth phase, customer intelligence can transform uncertainty into confident action.
Let’s talk about what’s possible for your brand.
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