Social:Two Fingers Brewing Co.

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Two Fingers Brewing Co. is a craft beer brand and social enterprise. Two Fingers Brewing Co. is based in Farringdon, London.[1]

History

Two Fingers Brewing Co. was founded by seven friends who met whilst working at an advertising agency in London.[2]

In 2012, several of their colleagues were affected by prostate cancer. Soon after they learnt that prostate cancer kills roughly as many men as breast cancer does women,[3] however, awareness and funding for prostate cancer is significantly lower.[4][5]

Around this time, the company where they worked was moving to a new building with its own bar, so they came up with the idea to produce their own craft beer to sell within it and realised the opportunity to give back to the men that drank it by donating all profits to prostate cancer charities.[6]

In 2013, the brand was launched nationally. The founders built a supply chain of partners who agreed to work at, near or below cost in support of the cause, as well as forming an official partnership with Prostate Cancer UK.[2]

Two Fingers Brewing Co.'s first beer, Aurelio, went on sale to the public in January 2014. Notable retailers have included Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons, Jamie's Italian, and Club Gascon.[6]

Products

Two Fingers Brewing Co. currently sells one beer called Aurelio, but has stated ambitions to expand its range, giving each beer a man's name that describes the characteristics of the drink. Aurelio is a Latin man's name meaning "golden," because of that beer being a golden ale.[7]

Aurelio is a 4.8% alcohol by volume golden ale, brewed with pale ale malt, crystal malt, goldings and admiral hops. Aurelio is brewed and bottled at cost for Two Fingers Brewing Co. by Hepworth & Co, the Sussex-based craft brewer.[2]

Design and branding

Two Fingers Brewing Co.’s logo features a hand pointing with two fingers, which is designed to represent an oath to better beer, in reference to the brand's commitment to great beer for a great cause, as well as a two-fingered salute to prostate cancer.[8] The hand points into a black hole, in an irreverent reference to the digital rectal examination for prostate cancer, although this is performed with one finger instead of two.[7]

Awards and honours

- Best Craft Beer Innovation, International Beer Awards, 2014[9]

- Selected as Official Beer of the 2014 Empire Awards[10]

- Contribution to the Community Award, Nectar Business Small Business Awards, 2014[11]

- Named one of the UK's 100 most resourceful, inspiring and disruptive small businesses in the Smarta 100 Awards, 2014[12]

- Winner of a Business in the Community arc contest to win a London Underground advertising poster campaign, with an audience reach of over 2 million people and over 19 million opportunities to see[13]

- Selected to run a pop up bar in Downing Street for a special Christmas market in honour of the UK's second Small Business Saturday, in December 2014[14]

- Startup of the year 2014, The Guardian Small Business Showcase[10]

- Winner of the UK Final of The Venture, Chivas Regal’s contest to find and celebrate the world's most innovative social enterprises[15]

Partners

Two Fingers Brewing Co. works with a network of partners in order to run its social enterprise.[2] By role, these partners include:

- The UK's largest men's health charity,[16] Prostate Cancer UK[17]

- Sussex craft brewery Hepworth & Co.[2]

- Marston's for storage and distribution [2]

- Chesapeake for label printing,[2] who have since merged to become Multi Packaging Solutions [18]

- Sales support from Cube Business Services [2]

- Insurance brokerage from Sutton Winson. [2]

- PR by Persuasion [2]

- Corporate legal advice from Brabners[17]

- Electronic Data Interchange support from GXS,[2] who have since merged to become OpenText[19]

- Social enterprise support from the Business in the Community arc scheme [13]

References

  1. Fiddes, Mark (20 January 2014). "Mark Fiddes on a New Year Resolution we can all keep: fighting prostate cancer". Harpers.co.uk. http://www.harpers.co.uk/opinion/mark-fiddes-on-a-new-year-resolution-we-can-all-keep-fighting-prostate-cancer/353696.article/. 
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Sadler, Matt (December 2014). "The Aurelio Story, How Beverage Brands Can Be Messengers for Good". Canadean. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/32a893ec#/32a893ec/1. 
  3. "Cancer mortality for common cancers". Cancer Research UK. 15 September 2014. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/mortality/cancerdeaths/uk-cancer-mortality-statistics-for-common-cancers. 
  4. Turnill, Nicky (March 2010). "Cancer awareness research Dip One Full Report Final". Arden Cancer Network. http://www.esds.ac.uk/doc/6678/mrdoc/pdf/6678_awareness_research_report.pdf. 
  5. "Prostate cancer research 'lagging'". BBC News. 1 January 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20875488. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Prosser, David (2 March 2015). "Small business person of the week: Fighting prostate cancer without running marathons". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/david-prosser-small-businesses-hold-the-key-to-raising-britains-productivity-10079057.html. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Knowles, Victoria (31 July 2014). "Is this the best idea since beer itself?". 2degrees. https://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/2degrees-community/resources/this-best-idea-since-beer-itself/. 
  8. Allsopp, Ashleigh (21 January 2014). "Ad agency creates beer brand to help fight prostate cancer". DigitalArts. http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/graphic-design/ad-agency-creates-beer-brand-help-fight-prostate-cancer/. 
  9. Briggs, Fiona (15 May 2014). "UK beer that fights prostate cancer wins international innovation award". Retail Times. http://www.retailtimes.co.uk/uk-beer-fights-prostate-cancer-wins-international-innovation-award. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 Sadler, Matt (6 March 2015). "Startup of the year 2014: Two Fingers Brewing Co.". https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2015/mar/06/startup-of-the-year-2014-two-fingers-brewing-co. 
  11. "Karren Brady shares her expertise at small businesses awards". BusinessMatters. 8 September 2014. http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/news/karren-brady-shares-expertise-small-businesses-awards/. 
  12. "Two Fingers Brewing Co.". Smarta. November 2014. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. https://archive.today/20150424222321/http://www.smarta.com/smarta100/2014/two-fingers-brewing-co/. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "arc Advertising Campaign Launch first ad campaign for Two Fingers Brewing and SMaRT Garage Services social enterprise enabled by Business in the Community (BITC) and big business". Global Entrepreneurship Week. 20 November 2014. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. https://archive.today/20150424220609/http://uk.gew.co/activity/arc-advertising-campaign-launch-first-ad-campaign-two-fingers-brewing-and-smart-garage. 
  14. Robinson, Howard (5 December 2014). "Small businesses create Christmas fair inside Downing Street to mark Small Business Saturday". Bdaily. https://bdaily.co.uk/entrepreneurship/05-12-2014/small-businesses-create-christmas-fair-inside-downing-street-to-mark-small-business-saturday. 
  15. Joi, Shihab (23 February 2015). "Two Fingers Brewing Co. crowned UK winners of The Venture". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/02/the-venture-finalists_n_6689726.html. 
  16. Triggle, Nick (15 August 2014). "Prostate cancer drug ruling a 'fiasco', says charity". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28785250. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 "Brabners advises on launch of new charity beer to help fight prostate cancer". Manchester Law Society. March 2014. http://www.manchesterlawsociety.org.uk/files/pdf/MM-Mar-2014.pdf. 
  18. "Chesapeake/MPS Unify as Multi Packaging Solutions". Reuters. 4 June 2014. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/04/ny-multi-packaging-idUKnBw046467a+100+BSW20140604. 
  19. "Open Text says GXS acquisition will create growth opportunities". The Record. 24 January 2014. http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4332922-open-text-says-gxs-acquisition-will-create-growth-opportunities/. 

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