This is a short case study about how newcomers can compete in traditional industries - as long as they do it on their own terms, and not try to copy the existing competition.

Brewdog - is probably known to most people who drink beer. A small craft brewery started in Scotland in 2007 and has now grown to be one of the bigger boys of the industry:

But Brewdog is different to the big boys. Brewdog does quite a lot of very interesting and purposeful things. In February 2021 they announced their tree planting scheme:

Just six weeks later, the tree counter was over a million:

Which clearly wasn't enough for Brewdog. They announced The Lost Forest program - to regenerate an area greater than 10,000 acres:

Including fully sustainable eco-lodges to help sustainable tourism:

They also figured out how to help their business customers (smaller bars and pubs) to also be a part of the plan:

Brewdog also looks for other sustainable and purposeful companies to partner with. I'm guessing this will be a slavery-free chocolate porter beer. If so, take my money:

They don't stop there. How about the first large size electric truck in the UK - enabling emission free deliveries:

And a new Bio-plant at their manufacturing HQ that will reduce their water and gas usage by 50%:

Introducing the world's first carbon _negative_ beer:

Which you might be able to drink at one of their carbon negative hotels. Just in case you were wondering, each room comes complete with a beer fridge in the shower:

Brewdog also looked to be meaningful during the Corona pandemic by offering their bars as vaccination centres:

As well as re-purposing their core capabilities to provide extra water for the vaccination centres who couldn't allow people to bring their own or use the taps:

All of Brewdgog's recipes are available for anyone to brew at home:

And they stand for so much more too. Real wages, customers as shareholders, profit sharing plans, and recently they were certified as a B Corp:

You've probably noticed that the founder CEO, James Watt, is also pretty good at showing the world how business could be different:

and that's all down to the fact that he, and Brewdog, are on a mission. Not to make as much money as possible - but to save the planet for us all:

These are just some of the things that Brewdog is busy with. In fact, I just picked things which James tweeted about in the first quarter of 2021. I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff that happened in the preceding years.

They are now carbon negative and remove twice as much carbon from the air as they emit, and by 2024 they aim to have removed all the carbon they have ever put into the air since the business began.

Download their impact report for more information. Whether it's working or not? Well, it's certainly got the interest of large supermarkets, who started to copy Brewdog beer styles, and ended up in collaboration instead.

Bonus material: Founder / CEO James Watts posted about some of their biggest screwups, which is fascinating reading: Here's part 1 and part 2.

I'm creating: The book and podcast series for people who want their small or medium business to make more profit and better impact. https://sixtyminutestoimpact.xyz

Want to talk about what would your business look like if you were fully focussed on a purposeful mission? Send me a message, and let's do that.