Rob Frappier: Writer, Marketer, Nerd, All-Around Nice Guy

I originally wrote this blog post for Beyond Madison Avenue.

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Imagine this scenario: You and your friends head out on the town for a Saturday night. You walk into your favorite spot and sidle up to bar for a drink. As your buddies look over the beer selection, one remarks, “Man. Wouldn’t it be great if you owned your own beer company?” Your other friends nod in agreement while you smile cooly. You look over to the friend who asked the question and say simply, “You’re right. It is great,” and then you order a round for everyone in the bar.

Pretty cool, right? Okay, fine. Maybe that scenario makes you sound like kind of an arrogant prick, but you’ve got to admit, it would be cool to own a beer company, right? Unfortunately, not all of us are high-rolling multi-millionaires who can snap up corporations as easily as you find quarters in your couch cushions. Luckily, that doesn’t matter anymore, thanks to the miracle of crowdsourcing.

Earlier this month, the iconic Milwaukee-based brewer, Pabst Brewing Company (known for stalwart American beers Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, and Schlitz) went up for sale at a cool $300M. Sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, two advertising agencies, The Ad Store and Forza Migliozzi, decided to combine their powers and create a Web site to help regular people all over the world become part-owners of Pabst. The Web site, BuyABeerCompany.com, asks visitors to “have a beer together,” providing four different pledge types: the Bottle Membership ($5.00), Six Pack Membership ($25.00), Case membership ($100.00), or the Brewmeister membership ($250,000). It is worth noting you don’t actually pay your pledge right now, only after the asking price is reached. At that time, you will be prompted to follow through on your pledge, earning your “very own crowdsourced certificate of ownership suitable for framing as well as enough beer to match your pledge.”

While the logistics of the project aren’t clear yet (Who would own the company? Is a membership like owning a share?) and remain to be seen, it’s an amazing idea, and it shows the considerable potential of crowdsourced initiatives. It will be interesting to see how companies continue to use social media tools to reach out and build positive relationships with their consumers.

To keep up with the Buy A Beer Company project, follow their official Twitter account here. Thanks to AdRants where I first caught this story.