BrewDog and Aberdeenshire Council go head-to-head in PR battle

Pioneers of real ale fuelled punk PR, BrewDog, are no strangers to competitive PR. In lieu of marketing spend, the Scottish brewers have created more than a significant buzz around their brand by packaging their beer in taxidermy, changed their names by deed poll to Elvis and funding their expansion via the hugely successful Equity for Punks crowdfunding campaign.

BrewDog are no fools when it comes to penning a cheeky press release. So its little wonder, when things don’t quite go BrewDog’s way, they resort to a comms strategy designed to raise the hackles of their community and go viral.

BrewDog’s very public row with Aberdeenshire council can be read here. To cut a long story short, BrewDog want to buy a piece of land from Aberdeenshire Council to build a new distillery, hotel and conference centre and create 100 new jobs. The only problem is, according to BrewDog, they cannot agree a fair price for the land with the local authority.

The BrewDog blog states: “On the 12th of May 2016 we had the land valued at £5,000 per acre by established and respected surveyor, DM Hall. We submitted our plans to the council for the distillery and hotel. They demanded £300,000 per acre from us. Over 60 times what an independent surveyor valued the land at. We have spoken with the Council several times since, but they will not budge. We want to invest in our local area and create much needed jobs yet the Council insist on making it impossible for us to do so.”

Needless to say, the attack has caused quite a stir in the local community – but are they telling the full story?

In response, Aberdeenshire Council have issued a rival statement, stating: “There are on-going protracted negotiations with BrewDog and this announcement appears to be intended to weaken the council’s position. We’re disappointed that the company has sought to break confidentiality during what we regarded as live and on-going discussions to achieve an agreement which is fair to both parties and which protects the interests of the local taxpayer, as well as creating opportunities for residents.”

The Council then goes on to highlight another area of concern which BrewDog has failed to mention in their article by stating: “At the heart of this issue is that the land BrewDog wants has been already earmarked for the expansion of the local cemetery.”

It’s hard to argue against something that will create hundreds of jobs but then again, it’s also very difficult to campaign against at cemetery.

So who will win this epic battle of the comms departments?

Who’d bet against the PR Punks to come out on top regardless of the final decision regarding the land?