Submitted by Richmond & Towers Communications

The Stonewall Inn IPA UK Launch

Richmond & Towers launched The Stonewall Inn IPA in the UK for Brooklyn Brewery with a ballroom-style event the agency reports reached 16 million.

Reached 16 million, securing 11 consumer and 27 trade media pieces, boosting Brooklyn Brewery's profilemedia reach
With 62 social media posts from the nightsocial media posts from the event
Gained 30 unpaid influencer posts promoting the eventunpaid influencer posts

Case in 60 seconds

Brooklyn Brewery needed The Stonewall Inn IPA to enter the UK market with impact across both consumer and trade audiences, and the beer carried the legacy of the Stonewall Inn, so a conventional product launch would have undersold what the brand was standing for.

The campaign appears to turn on the reading that a beer tied to the birthplace of Pride is understood as a statement rather than a drink, so the launch had to be built as a cultural moment because LGBTQ+ representation is currently both celebrated and challenged.

Richmond & Towers organised the launch around the spirit of New York queer culture relocated to East London, treating the beer's origin story and the cause behind it as the thing being launched rather than the liquid alone.

The Hoxton Shoreditch was transformed into a ballroom-style event headlined by DJ Jay Jay Revlon with dancers, attended by media, LGBTQ+ creators, tastemakers and competition winners, with Stacy Lentz of The Stonewall Inn speaking from the stage. A targeted trade and consumer sell-in landed interviews and listings coverage, and an integrated social campaign teased and amplified the night.

The agency reports the night generated 62 social media posts and 30 unpaid influencer posts, while media coverage reached 16 million across 11 consumer and 27 trade media pieces, which the page frames as boosting Brooklyn Brewery's profile.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Key media, LGBTQ+ creators, cultural tastemakers and competition winners at the event, with the wider campaign aimed at UK consumers and the drinks trade.
The page positions the launch against a moment when LGBTQ+ representation is being both celebrated and challenged, so a brand associated with the Stonewall Inn had to show up with conviction because a cautious appearance would read as borrowing the association.
Beer launches usually compete on flavour and distribution, which gave this product little room to explain a legacy that predates it, so the work had to make the story of the Inn the reason for the coverage.
Brooklyn Brewery acted as the vehicle carrying the Stonewall Inn's story into the UK, with proceeds of attention directed at the Inn's history and its role in the modern Pride movement rather than at product claims.
Based on the available evidence, the guests were selected as people who publish, so the room itself functioned as the distribution, which is consistent with the agency reporting 62 posts from the night and 30 unpaid influencer posts.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • Richmond & Towers Communications (lead_agency)

Participation mechanic

  • A competition gave consumers a route into the launch night, and guests took part in the ballroom event itself, posting from the night.

Creator role

  • Jay Jay Revlon — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
media reachReached 16 million, securing 11 consumer and 27 trade media pieces, boosting Brooklyn Brewery's profilereach
social media posts from the eventWith 62 social media posts from the nightperformance
unpaid influencer postsGained 30 unpaid influencer posts promoting the eventcontent_pieces

Why Richmond & Towers Communications's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Bringing a founder-adjacent voice to the launch, in this case the co-owner of The Stonewall Inn, gave press something to interview rather than a product to describe, which is what the agency credits for the interviews and listings coverage it secured.

  2. 2

    Casting a room of media, creators, tastemakers and competition winners together means one night services trade relationships and organic social at once, which reads as the mechanism behind 62 posts from the event and 30 unpaid influencer posts.

  3. 3

    Where a product carries an existing cultural legacy, building the format around that culture, here ballroom, appears to earn participation from creators who would treat a straightforward brand launch as sponsored work.

  4. 4

    The client describes the social work continuing after launch, which suggests a launch event is more durable when the social campaign is planned as a longer conversation rather than as coverage of a single night.

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