Building Artisanal Brands — From Beer to Software, with Frank S Krueger

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When people think of “artisanal” they think about physical things crafted from hand. That is a remnant from a time before digital. The important part is the level of care and attention that goes into the product and the ability to give the customer the feeling that this thing was made for them rather than the masses.

An artisanal brand knows how fill an emotional need or aspiration in the customers life. It is a brand that customers want to identify with and advocate for. Key to doing this includes transparency, storytelling, and customer advocacy enablement. Every business or startup can learn from this.

From a decade of product design for fast-paced tech startups to starting a Santa Cruz based craft brewery, Frank has learned a thing or two about how to do this. He will talk of the thrills, benefits and perils of transparently sharing your company’s story and building a customer base before the government even allows you to sell your product.

That is exactly what he is doing with Humble Sea Brewery — called “the coolest brewery that doesn’t exist”. Frank will highlight the steps he took, the stories he shared and the craft brewery brand he’s building — and contrast this to some digital equivalents from his past and current digital product work.

Join us for a fun evening of craft beer, local pizza and artisanal brand.

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About Frank Scott Krueger:

Frank is a Santa Cruz based designer with a background in branding and UI/UX design for any product with a screen. He has designed human-centered experiences for companies like Expedia, Jawbone, Mercedes Benz and way too many tech startups throughout the Bay Area. He has cofounded two companies, struggled his way through an accelerator program, and once lived for a month in Colombia on a budget of $2.50 a day.

Prior to focusing on product design Frank was the senior designer and project manager for imagenHB, Argentina’s premiere design studio, where he worked on the cultural brand of Brooklyn, Berlin, and other cities, museums and cultures around the world. Although cool brand names are fun to throw around, Frank is most proud co-founding an urban design movement that is on four continents and over twenty countries today.