James Ready (beer)

James Ready Brewing Co. Saint John, New Brunswick.

General Information

James Ready Brewing Co. is a Canadian beer brewed at Moosehead Brewery. The brand has five types of lagers, each with a varying alcohol by volume value. These five types of beer from lightest to darkest are the James Ready Lager, the James Ready Light, the James Ready Original Ale, the James Ready 5.5, and the James Ready 6.0.^[1]

History: Ready Brewery

Ready Brewery was originally founded by James Ready in Saint John, a man from Scotland.^[2] Moosehead was founded by the Oland family in Nova Scotia. Moosehead Brewery's original founders, Susannah and John Oland, first named the brewery The Army and Navy Brewery, as most of their customers were soldiers. Two fires and one Halifax Harbour Explosion later, the Oland sons relocated Moosehead from Halifax to Saint John, buying the already established Ready Brewery and branding it as Moosehead Brewery by 1931.^[3] Now Canada's oldest brewery, Moosehead Brewery is operated by descendants of the Oland family.

Marketing and Expansion

The James Ready brand often interacts with their drinkers through unique yet simple advertising techniques. For example, under a James Ready beer bottle cap, there is a letter: a trademark of their beer company. In 2011, James Ready held a "Spelling Bee Lottery" with these letters. Twice a week, the brand posted videos on their Facebook page where a word was spelled out using the undersides of the bottle caps. The first participant to spell out the same word using bottle caps and post on the page would win a small trinket as a prize.^[4] Also using their Facebook page, James Ready created a campaign called the "Drinkers of Awesomeness Bottles." Drinkers posted their pictures on the brand's page to prove themselves as James Ready's most loyal drinker. Based on voting by Facebook followers, the top 100 entrants in the contest had their pictures turned into labels on James Ready beer bottles.^[5] These simple, Facebook-based techniques solidified James Ready's target market as college students, as those were the people who dominated the brand's Facebook page.

Collaborating with Leo Burnett advertising agency, James Ready prepares for expansion in 2012 and 2013. The brand's Facebook advertising was due to a small budget however with increased competition in the beer industry, James Ready aims to expand their market and their advertising techniques. Leo Burnett and James Ready's consumer interaction-focused advertising has highlighted their entertainment factor in the past, and now with plans to expand, the two are prepared to increase profits and gain more interest in the brand. James Ready plans to move across Western Canada and into the beer tap industry, opening their target market to older audiences, as opposed to being focused on Southern Ontario college students.^[6]

Social Media

James Ready beer is available for interaction with the online community on Facebook^[7] and on Twitter^[8]

References