Kristi Monroe
Company: Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau, Alaska
Company Description: Alaskan Brewing Company brews the country’s best beers in the most majestic setting on earth. Pure malt, premium hops, glacier-fed waters and yeast are carefully crafted into distinctive, critically acclaimed beers. Alaskan Brewing Company is the most award-winning craft brewery in the country at the Great American Beer Festival. Alaskan Amber and ancillary beers are available on the west coast.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Corporate Communicator
Nomination Title: Kristi Monroe, Marketing Communications Director
1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
The Alaskan Brewing Company’s limited resources as a small craft brewer are a challenge. Kristi’s budget is smaller than some of her competitor’s salaries. Yet with determination, attention to detail and her media savvy, she has been able to facilitate getting the company message out to a wide range of audiences in innovative ways. Effectively using vendors, this one person department communicates the soul of the Brew Crew, programs and the beer to consumers, distributors and media. Kristi’s leadership and relationship building skills have helped to make Alaskan Brewing one of the most revered craft breweries in the country, despite west coast only distribution and remote wilderness location.
Born from the idea that the crew is what sets Alaskan apart, the “Our crew, Our brew” campaign was developed to showcase the individuals that ‘live life Alaskan’ as well as put their heart and souls into the award-winning beer they brew. As webmaster, Kristi developed a featured crew area as well as used crew photos throughout the site showcasing the Alaskan lifestyle. In 2005, this was expanded to include consumers who are Alaskan at heart, hence “Our crew, Our brew and You!” She added an interactive area of the website for fans to be able to upload quirky information and personal photos to create their own Brew Crew ad.
Instrumental in creation of the “Alaskan Summer 6-Pack”, Kristi was responsible for hiring 6 college students or recent graduates to work with the brew crew. Facilitating real-world business experience, participation in focus groups, promotion development and market strategy, Kristi had to communicate the different aspects of a many faceted campaign in her role as Marketing Communications Director.
Articles and promotion outreach via the web, college campuses and media in addition to collateral and store displays, drove thousands of users to the website to apply. Website traffic more than doubled.
Developing pitch sheets for sales staff and recruitment plans for distributors, Kristi coordinated all communication and implementation of the “Alaskan Six Pack Team”, even serving as the “Crew’s Director”. She personally reviewed applications and interviewed students, designed website interactivity, newsletters, correspondence, prepared and facilitated media pitches and interviews. Her work paid off in a contribution to beer sales leading to attaining a growth rate more than 3 times that of the general craft beer market by year end.
Following the success of the 2005 Six Pack Team, Kristi has improved upon the communications tactics by targeting consumers using grassroots techniques of myspace.com, craigslist.com. Collateral for the 2006 promotion features many photos she took or directed featuring original Six Pack Crew.
In the end it’s the personal touch that Kristi brings to Alaskan’s communications that ultimately reflect the caring nature crew has for beer and Alaskan fans. One 2005 Six Pack participant said, “The people that make up Alaskan made a huge impact on me, and I'm forever grateful for the chance to be a part of such a wonderful company.” Another student called Kristi simply, “Mom”.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
Program exposure:
http://promomagazine.com/contests/marketing_work_beer/index.html
http://www.campuscircle.net/review.cfm?r=933
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~cba/news-online/05-Sept/c.html
http://www.csulb.edu/org/ama/internships/alaskan.html
http://www.unlv.edu/student_orgs/asc/jobs.html
http://ama.asuclub.com/careers.php?id=102
www.myspace.com/alaskanbeer
http://www.aksbdc.org/juneau.htm
http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/archives/2006/spring/news/v12n88-
student.shtml
2005 Market Results Powerpoint:
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/2005Results.pdf
Alaskan Six Pack Team Collateral and Pitch Sheet:
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/sixpack2005/sixpack2005.pdf
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/sixpack2005/casecard_poster.jpg
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/sixpack2005/stackersign.jpg
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/sixpack2005/coaster_tabletent.jpg
http://programs.juneaumedia.com/sixpack2005/banner.jpg
Using 2005 Six Pack Team for 2006 Promotion:
http://www.jmc.sjsu.edu/student/prssa/sixpackflyer.pdf
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/artman/publish/
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/summer6_app.html
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/artman/publish/article_151.shtml
Make your own Brew Crew Ad:
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/cgi-bin/contest/postcard.cgi
Crew Section of the website:
https://www.alaskanbeer.com/ourcrew.html
Website Statistics:
http://www.alaskanbeer.com/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=alaskanbeer
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Kristi Switzer-Monroe is Director of Marketing Communications. She is responsible for Alaskan’s promotion execution and overall public perception and communications efforts. Kristi’s thirteen years at Alaskan Brewing have led to successful placements in USA Today, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 Addy Awards and inclusion on TV shows such as the Food Network’s Food Finds and Fine Living’s The Thirsty Traveler. She is also the webmaster of alaskanbeer.com.
Kristi has a Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University with majors in German and Foreign Service. She is a Certified Beer Judge and member of PRSA.