Anchor Rising: Why Keeping It Real Is Brand Strategy

Anchor Brewing is rising again. For fans of the brand, craft beer, and San Francisco, the purchase of Anchor by Chobani’s Hamdi Ulukaya is promising news—particularly given Ulukaya’s plan to “restore its beloved historic branding” by bringing it back "in a new refreshed way, but still connected to its roots.” For fans of branding in general, it’s a reminder that “beloved” and “connected” may be the most valuable assets you own.

Changing Hands: A Brief Brand History

Known as America’s first craft brewery, Anchor has been a San Francisco institution since 1896. Fritz Maytag (of washing-machine fame and fortune) saved it in the 1960s and made its flagship Steam Beer one of the fastest-growing beers of the ‘80s.

In 2010, former Skyy Vodka execs bought Anchor with their own growth plans and new local twists, including a taproom annex, a stadium concession at Oracle Park, and the blueprint for a waterfront offering at Pier 48. During this era, FINE worked extensively with Anchor to bring the brewery into the digital and social sphere, giving the brand a new way to deepen and connect with its fandom.

Then came Sapporo, and with it, a pattern we’ve seen play out many times before: big company uses marketing and distribution muscle to grow beloved brand but in so doing forsakes what made what made beloved brand, well…beloved. In this case, the rollout of a new trendy brand paired with a push to expand distribution collided with a crashing beer market and flopped spectacularly. By 2023, after five years of stewardship, Sapporo put the historic brewery up on the auction block to be sold as spare parts.

Changing Tastes, Changing Brand

Part of the problem was the market. Craft beer, and the beverage industry as a whole, had changed dramatically since the early aughts. There was the IPA boom, the addition of thousands of small brewers (and big brewers pretending to be small), the introduction of all sorts of wild new hoppy flavors, and the disruption caused by hard seltzer and the ready-to-drink boom that followed. By 2022, spirits had surpassed beer in total market share for the first time in recorded history, the once predictable customer progression through the category completely upended. Anchor and other craft brewers found themselves squeezed between competition from juggernaut brewers on one end and countless alternatives catering to shifts in consumer taste on the other.

The other (larger) problem was how Sapporo responded to tightening competition. When FINE first launched Anchor’s social media presence back in 2011, the response was immediate and reverent. People loved Anchor's beer and brand. That is an incredible asset when you’re competing against 10,000 beer brands and countless wines, canned cocktails, and other newfangled beverages. Instead of focusing Anchor’s growth strategy on differentiators to deepen brand appeal and attract a new generation of evangelists, Sapporo’s ultra-generic redesign and mainstream distribution of Anchor suggest a push to broaden brand appeal for the masses.

Unfortunately, branding for everyone is the same as branding for no one, which makes it an incredibly volatile approach. By the time Sapporo was done rebranding Anchor for the White Claw generation, that generation was already on to something else. And 125 years of brand equity was all but gone.

Changing Tides: A Return to Real

Now with new ownership at the helm, America’s first craft brewery has a real chance at a comeback. The right strategy for a brand like Anchor is to return to the real Anchor brand, the one that elicited such a strong and reverent response. That means embracing the place, craft, and history of one of the nation’s few, truly provincial craft breweries.

• Place: Anchor connects deeply to its place–San Francisco. But not in a trite, cliche way. It defines its place, and vice versa. It is in a real residential neighborhood (Potrero Hill). It makes a beer (Steam) found nowhere else. And these things were true for 127 years.

• Craft: Anchor reflects the original craft spirit of California cuisine and Napa Valley winemaking movements that began in Northern California. Four of its beers landed on Food & Wine’s Top 25 Most Historic Beers. Anchor’s porter was the first brewed in the States following Prohibition, and the brewery didn’t jump on the IPA bandwagon. If anything, they built it, brewing the first IPA in America in 1975, back when the market was dominated by light lagers.

• History: And the story goes even further back to gritty Barbary Coast culture. Anchor’s the kind of brewery that would (and did) scoff at vanilla blueberry IPA ten years ago. It’s a beer with working-class roots, first served to dock workers at the Port of San Francisco, and the brand should embody that old-school spirit.

Granted, the economics remain tricky. The fixed costs associated with making beer in the middle of San Francisco are high to say the least, and that's just the start. The brewery’s success may require resuscitating local plans, expanded production, experiential locations, geographic focus, a smaller lineup of mainstay beers, and selective launches of splashy ones (no vanilla blueberry, yes Christmas Ale). But the next business plan must be brand-led not fad-driven.

Maybe we’re biased because we spent so much time with this brand during its heyday. Or maybe it’s because a 15-minute stroll west of Anchor’s Potrero Hill brewery lands you at another historic doorstep—our very first studio. Whatever the reason, we’re happy to see an old FINE friend back in action.