Page 26 - BrewDog Case Study
P. 26
2017
In March 2017, BrewDog took legal action against an
independent pub based in Birmingham, England called
"Lone Wolf", a trademark owned by BrewDog. A day later,
after the Guardian newspaper’s report sparked a backlash
that saw the firm accused of acting like “just another
multinational corporate machine”. Watt confirmed via
Twitter that the company had no issue allowing the bar to
use the name "Lone Wolf".
After the ‘Lone Wolf’ incident, further controversy arose
when BrewDog threatened legal action against a bar calling
itself "Draft Punk". Watt later released a blog statement
citing the allegation as inaccurate, calling it an example of
"opportunistic lies combined with inaccurate journalism",
noting that BrewDog also owned the 'Punk IPA' trademark in
beer. (13)
BrewDog's business model has traditionally used complaints
by the public as a Public Relations opportunity for their
brands.
