SFBW Listing Guidelines

Spanning multiple days from February to March, SF Beer Week brings together a curated listing of events, activities, specials and more that celebrate craft beer, the craft community and the Bay Area's creative spirit.

SF Beer Week is organized by the Bay Area Brewers Guild, but it's the multitude of craft breweries, bars, restaurants, retailers and other venues across the entire Bay Area that make SF Beer Week the greatest beer week in the world.

This document contains what you need to know to submit a listing, and have your product, activity and venue promoted by, and as part of, SF Beer Week.

WHY LIST?

• SF Beer Week offers an opportunity to engage craft beer enthusiasts and reach new customers while providing a shot in the arm to small, community-facing businesses.
• Your products and participation in the craft community will be showcased and can benefit from the extended awareness and economic energy a vast initiative like this can generate.
• Your participation will help spotlight the importance of supporting local businesses and buying local, and of reviving and reconnecting within our neighborhoods.
• SF Beer Week offers a framework for sharing your story and highlighting the role your businesses plays in energizing the economy, creating jobs, contributing to coffers, keeping dollars local, rebuilding social bonds, and giving back.
• SF Beer Week is a legal trademark; if you wish to promote involvement in SF Beer Week, you must register to secure permission to use the name, logo or any likeness.

LISTING IDEAS

SF Beer Week is as much about community as beer, but it always starts with doing or offering something special, either with the craft beers being highlighted or inherent in the activity or product being offered.

THE BEER...
Focus on rare, one-off or special releases, particularly collaboration beers, and activities that provide something above and beyond. Avoid beer promotions or activities that are standard fare or could be offered any time of year (they will get rejected).

THE THEMES...
While craft beer from independent breweries should be inherent to any listing, there's a lot of room to play. SF Beer Week encourages several themes to help consumers zero in on what they love to do as well as find new adventures (see THEMES on this page).

LISTING TIPS

• BE SPECIFIC . List participating breweries and the special beers you'll be serving (HUGE impact on engagement!). Specify the culinary theme or menu items. Provide the brewer's name if he or she will be present. These details will draw people to your event and increases sharing among fans and promotion by influencers.
• Don't forget to upload a current logo and recent, quality photos to your Profile and your listings. Do not submit a "billboard" or ad graphic that simply repeat a listing's name or details ; graphics that restate such data will be rejected (every SFBW listing will already be showcasing host, venue, date & time). Instead, submit a compelling PHOTO -- people engage with photos much more frequently. Aim for artistic shots of your venue or the product being offered (just avoid including products in a photo that won't be available at the time the consumer interacts with you to avoid confusion).
• 16:9 landscape images are required for SFBW's mobile responsive interface. And again, have your compositions be eye candy, NOT ads (no billboards!).
• You may update or edit certain fields of your listings after approval. Just sign back into the site using your account ID and password to access your listings. NOTE: Please submit only _essential & material_ changes once your event has been approved. All listings are edited for consistent copy and presentation across the site, and these style edits must be maintained. Reversing edits made by staff once an event is published will result in the listing being taken down WITHOUT a refund.

LISTING REQUIREMENTS

• The main component of a listing must be independent craft breweries and/or their products
• Try to organize something special that ideally inspire, surprise and excite consumers and/or uplift our communities. QUALITY over quantity will help you stand out.
• Listings centered on discounts, giveaways, binge drinking or that are overly pedestrian, or without enough connection to SFBW and its themes, will NOT get approved.
• SFBW is a curated list. We reserve the right to reject or remove submissions at our discretion, including but not limited to postings that don't meet our guidelines, contain language or images that may be deemed offensive, discriminatory, inappropriate or violate laws, or that use an image, name or mark without proper authorization.
• Listings must be submitted in standard sentence formatting. Any listing submitted using ALL CAPS, only lower case, or odd or unusual formatting will not be approved .
• No one likes reading spammy listings. Keep yours straight forward and the copy clean, meaning NO repeated or excessive exclamation points, highlighting with ALL CAPS, odd punctuation, and so on. Listings will be edited to remove spammy qualities and may be rejected if too over the top.
• Titles should not repeat the venue/participant name unless use of the venue/participant name is pertinent to the title (so, please, no "XXXX EVENT at VENUE" in the title, or similar -- in general, the listing is already showcasing the host & venue, main participant and location information.
• You must own or have unassailable permission over the use of any image you submit to SFBW, and agree that by submitting, you are granting unassailable permission for our use of the image as part of SFBW, within the site itself as well as in any extended promotional format (eg. social media, newsletters, etc.), for your listing and/or for SFBW overall.
• All listings are edited to maintain a consistent copy style and readability across the site. Once an event is approved, the only allowable edits are material changes, e.g. a link, date, time or place change. Note : Certain fields, including a listing's title, get locked down once published, and can only be changed by contacting us directly with a request; when doing so, make sure to include the title, location and day of the event you want changed.
• Hosts may resubmit a rejected listing for approval if the issue with the listing has been rectified.
• ABC REQUIREMENTS : Only a retail alcohol license holder or, if a special event, a third-party nonprofit can pay for and submit listings it's hosting through the SFBW website. The CA Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) dictates that alcoholic beverage manufacturers (breweries), importers, suppliers, wholesalers or distributors may not submit or pay for listings being held at, or sold by, a third-party retail license holder.

LISTING TYPES & FEES

Listings cost $50 each, and there are two types:

Activity/Event Listing -- For an activity happening at a set time and duration on a set day. Think release tappings, festivals, parties, performances, educational panels, community fundraisers, brewer presentations, collaboration releases, fitness and gaming activities or other noteworthy gatherings or occasions where independent craft beer place a prominent role.

Promotional Listing -- For advertising activities or offerings that people can partake in at their leisure (so no set day/time), such as in-store specials or takeaway offerings; special flights, pairing menus, gifts for that certain someone, beer boxes or similar items. Note: Instead of charging a higher-priced "Week Long" listing as in the past, which cost $150, venues can now select a weekend or weekdays, and only purchase what they need (e.g. a venue only wanting to promote closing weekend brunches). If you need to cover more days, please purchase add'l listings.

HOW ARE EVENTS PROMOTED?

Marketing materials to promote your involvement in SF Beer Week are sent to qualifying host venues a couple of weeks ahead of SFBW (expect distribution in early February). Submitting a Listing does NOT guarantee materials. Materials are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and may also be dependent on type of location, event count and other factors. The best way to ensure your venue receives materials is to get your listings submitted early.

All SF Beer Week events are actively promoted through the website, which sees millions of consumer interactions, and is searchable and filterable by region, venue, listing types and other attributes, as well as available for people to put on personal itineraries for planning and to promote and share with their friends. Listings may also be selectively promoted via email and social, reaching tens of thousands.

SF Beer Week offers exceptional opportunities to promote your business, events and listings through our sponsorship program. Sponsorship provides greater exposure for both your listings and your brand, through the Beer Week site and via extensive outreach and marketing initiatives that amplify and extend reach, and can include exclusive perks, custom activations, access to brewery members and taprooms, and more. Sponsorship can also span and include participation in many other activities the Bay Area Brewers Guild and its members undertake, during Beer Week, and beyond, providing maximum and recurring consumer engagement throughout the year. To learn more, contact us .

HOW TO SUBMIT A LISTING

Sign up by creating a Host Account, and purchasing an SFBW Starter Kit, which provides a Host Profile and one Listing you can assign as an Activity or Promotion. BONUS : Sign up before January 6 to receive an official SF Beer Week Marketing Kit with branded collateral for promoting your involvement in SF Beer Week (while supplies last).

1. Create a Host Account here .
2. Add basic account information and purchase a Host Starter Kit .
3. Once payment is submitted, you can access your account dashboard.
4. Select and fill in your organization's profile (if new to SF Beer Week, please allow 3 business days for your Profile to get activated and loaded into your account).
5. Select an Open Listing, select the Listing type, fill in activity information, then Submit for approval.
6. Upon submission, an event is "pending" until reviewed to ensure it meets listing requirements. While events are often reviewed within 48 hours, this process can take up to 5 business days.
7. Once your listing is approved, it will be posted. Note: Listings will launch shortly after New Year's Day. Any submitted prior will be held in queue; those submitted after will appear as soon as they're processed and approved. Sign up for our email list at the bottom of the SF Beer Week home page to be notified of key dates.

READY TO LIST?

Sign Up