May 2024 Campaign

Our campaign this time had an internal focus, directed to branch members and encouraging them to send in updates detailing the cider available in pubs they visited in May and June.

Aim

We wanted to raise the profile of REAL Cider and Perry in the local branch area amongst our own branch members and the wider drinking public.

We wanted to encourage branch members to proactively feedback cider availability in pubs they visited.

The aim was to significantly improve the quality of our WhatPub data and thus the integrity of cider information on our website.

Action

A “Members Cider Month Challenge” was launched with a cider related prize being offered.
A Cider Comms tool message was sent on 29 April to all 561 members happy to receive branch emails.

Notification methods were simplified to ensure as many people as possible contributed.
The campaign featured on May and June Branch Meeting Agendas.

Facebook posts “widened” the challenge to include the wider drinking public and cider producers but without the incentive of a prize.

The opening paragraph in Exe Ale’s Cider Corner led with news of the Cider Month Challenge and encouraged wider public participation.

Outcomes

17 different branch members and 1 publican submitted updates.

Updates were duplicated for just 14 pubs but even these provided additional information as not all members gave the same level of detail, e.g. dispense methods.

150 pubs have been updated on WhatPub.
WhatPub now shows 120 pubs in our branch area confirmed as selling at least one real cider and 50 pubs confirmed as not having any real ciders for sale.
In most cases we also know the dispense method and have annotated WhatPub’s cider comment field with this information.

WhatPub data is downloaded and used to populate the list of real cider and perry pubs on the branch website. Cider maker and dispense method is shown on the list.

The Cider Month Challenge also resulted in some useful market research information; namely more than 25 different cider makers are represented in our pubs, 9 of them from Devon.

This information formed the basis of a discussion with one of the largest cider makers in our branch area. Discussions are currently taking place that hopefully will lead to them providing us with additional information to further populate our list of pubs thus helping to publicise and support pubs in our area offering a real cider.

If this approach proves successful other large cider makers will be approached.

Archive:
Real Cider & Perry Campaigns - October 2023
Real Cider & Perry Campaigns - May 2023

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