Summer Love

I cannot go home to Chester County, Pennsylvania without coming across Victory Beer. I don't even need to go to a store or bar to find the beer, just this past weekend I went home to lounge by my best friend's pool, and her brother came home wearing a Victory shirt because he is doing a summer internship there as part of his Tourism & Hospitality Management degree at Temple University.

I'm not much of a beer connoisseur, but there is a cult following for this stuff, which I only discovered after I moved out of PA and found myself face to face with people asking me wide eyed about growing up in the same town as the brewery. People fall hard for this beer - it's no wonder they named their summer ale "Summer Love" - finding Victory beer in a bar outside of PA brings happiness akin to the memory of a first summer love.

MacBook view: victorybeer.com

Victory knows it has a cult like following, which they take full advantage of on their website. The content features a beer finder allowing users to find the bar closest to them that carries Victory (anywhere in the US), an explanation of all of their beers, the restaurant menu, an event calendar and facts and videos about how the beer is made.

On all platforms (laptop, tablet, mobile device) victorybeer.com creates a very classic and traditional American feel by utilizing a red, white and blue color scheme (and of course the name "Victory" helps with American pride as well). But, America is the "new world," just as Victory is a relatively "new" beer, so they remind you that they know what they are doing with the tag line "European Tradition. American Integrity."

If the phrase "American tradition" alone does not let you know you are drinking a quality beer, the website is so aesthetically pleasing (simple, yet artistic) that it just screams "QUALITY!" reminding consumers that paying premium price is worth it for this beer. Good looks go a long way, and the page featuring all of their beers is so creative it feels as though there is something for everyone, from the traditionalists to the day dreamers.

Just a few of the Victory brews! Check out the full list and find what is right for you at http://www.victorybeer.com/beers/

The text is a bit small on the website, but the blue space on the sides of the main content help the eye know where to focus. There is a lot of content on each of the pages, so utilizing all of the space would make it too cluttered.

Find a Victory event near you at http://www.victorybeer.com/events/

iPhone view: victorybeer.com

 If it isn't apparent by now that I think Victory is a great beer with a great marketing strategy, let me tell you about the experience loading their website on my mobile device:  it's brilliant.

Upon opening victorybeer.com on my iPhone I noticed that their main content best viewed on a laptop is downplayed, but easily viewable and most prominent are "Upcoming Events" and the "Beer Finder." Victory knows  that people on the go are pulling up the website because they're trying to find an address of the event Victory is at, or a bar that carries the beer. Brilliant. Plus, their text is huge and easy to scroll, which almost negates my comment about the small text when viewing on a desktop.

Victory does fall short on the iPad experience, where users are not as on the go as an iPhone viewer. The tablet experience appears to be very similar to the desktop experience, which makes sense, until you struggle to hit the arrow keys which are too small for fingers on an iPad. Additionally, the scrolling images are not able to be viewed by swiping a finger across the image, which seems strange to a tablet viewer who navigates by swiping their fingers across the screen. 

Easy to click text on iPhone

iPad view: victorybeer.com

Now, if only Victory would move their social media page links to the top of their website from the bottom, Victory Beer might be successful at achieving world domination.

Victory's Facebook page is pretty cool, despite the fact you can barely see the link on their website

Cheers!