Increase Beer Sales and Social Reach

Dogfish Head Brewery, based in Milton, DE, was founded by well-known craft beer leader Sam Calagione. With over 250,000 barrels of beer brewed annually, they are one of the
United States’ fastest-growing independent brewing companies.

Calagione once served as the head brewer, hostess, bartender, and dishwasher during its humble beginnings as Delaware’s first brew pub and the smallest commercial brewery in
America. Dogfish Head has always placed great emphasis on anecdotal data from their customers. With every pint passed over the bar, Calagione could receive direct feedback on a newly brewed beer. His experience served as the foundation for how Dogfish Head operates—inviting feedback straight from customers drinking their beer.

With continued market growth and nearly 7,500 breweries in the United States, Dogfish Head faces heavier competition and proliferation of choice now more than ever. Given the evolving competitive landscape of the craft beer industry, they needed a way to better attract the craft beer consumer and monitor trends. Upon seeking a preferred social media platform for the beer industry, Untappd was the clear choice.

Dogfish Head chose Untappd because it is the world’s largest network of beer enthusiasts and provides businesses with data analytics and trends in real-time. Untappd provides Dogfish Head with macro-level data on what craft beer consumers have an appetite for across the nation. They receive feedback from consumers early in the pipeline of beers they will launch nationally.

Untappd’s Sponsored Badges are used by breweries to drive awareness and engagement with brands, new beer releases, and more.

Users unlock Sponsored Badges when checking in the brewery’s beer. Breweries that purchase a badge generally see a 50-100%+ increase in check-ins and typically make Untappd’s Global Trending Beer list during their promotional period. Increased check-ins lead to more exposure and revenue for brewery partners. Using the Badge Analytics tool, breweries can monitor metrics such as unlocks, demographics and more, all in real-time.

In 2018, Dogfish Head ran their highest performing badge to date. It focused on their partnership with Record Store Day—a day to celebrate the culture of independently owned record stores. At the time, they were preparing to release pale ale Dragon & YumYums, an art collaboration beer with musical group The Flaming Lips. Drawing heavy comparisons between the independent music scene and independent craft beer community, Dogfish Head knew Untappd was the best channel to promote the Dragon & YumYums release in tandem with Record Store Day.

Untappd is the world’s largest social network for the beer community with over 7 million registered users and 165,000 new downloads each month. Users share and discover beer, while connecting with new businesses and friends. More than 15 million beers are checked-in on Untappd each month. The beer enthusiast engages with partners like Dogfish Head through the mobile app, providing businesses with valuable data analytics in real-time.

Untappd’s business platform, Untappd for Business, is a menu publishing and promotional tool that drives foot traffic and unlocks operational efficiencies for customers like Dogfish Head. The platform not only helps businesses gain exposure to a targeted market, but partners also leverage a database of over 1.4 million beers. The all-in-one menu publishing toolkit syncs social accounts, websites, print and digital menus, and Untappd profiles in one click.

Untappd for Business partners stand out on the app by showcasing events and specials, and alerting subscribers to new beers and events via push notifications. Breweries like Dogfish Head that leverage the Untappd for Business platform also have access to analytics dashboards which provide venue-specific and local beer trends, making it easy to select the right beers and styles to serve to the craft consumer.