Crowd Network raises a glass to BrewDog partnership

Crowd Network (Crowd), one of Europe’s fastest growing independent podcast networks, has partnered with Britain’s biggest independent brewer, BrewDog.

The BrewDog sponsorship has been passed between some of Crowd’s most popular podcasts, including FC Bullard, Joe’s Marler’s Things People Do, Geraint Thomas Cycling Club, Beef’s Golf Club, and For The Love Of Rugby.

For the partnership, Crowd and BrewDog assigned each podcast a different BrewDog beer, with hosts drinking them in podcast episodes, and beer cans and packs decorating recording spaces. The chosen beverages reflect each podcast’s hosts and content — BrewDog’s Alcohol-Free Punk AF paired with Geraint Thomas Cycling Club during Dry January, as host Geraint Thomas is sober while in training.

The collaboration supports Crowd’s multichannel approach by facilitating extra content opportunities, like Jimmy Bullard’s appearance on Joe Marler’s Things People Do to progress the sponsorship. Hosts worked with BrewDog to create social media content, with Joe Marler handing out cans of Punk IPA to Londoners, and Geraint Thomas leaving Punk AF packs by his golden post box in Cardiff.

And the partnership has led to several live events including the FC Bullard Christmas party at the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre, with football manager Sean Dyche and musician Miles Kane as guests. Ahead of this year’s Guinness Six Nations Championship, For The Love Of Rugby hosts and England’s most-capped rugby players Dan Cole and Ben Youngs hosted the For The Love Of Rugby Quiz, where fans in every BrewDog bar in the UK competed for prizes. BrewDog even launched a new beer — “Beef’s Swing Oil” — at the Beef’s Golf Club event “Beef Stock 2024”.

Alongside original podcasts, Crowd runs a successful branded division working with clients like Chelsea FC Women to create the We Are Chelsea podcast. Using podcast content across its YouTube and social media channels, Chelsea FC Women’s TikToks received 50 million views in summer 2024 — more than any other women’s sports team globally. Outside of sport-focused podcasts, Crowd has also produced Greenpeace International’s SystemShift podcast, exploring practical solutions to societal challenges and making them accessible to a global audience.

Lauren Carrol, Chief Marketing Officer at BrewDog, said of the partnership: “Working with Crowd has been a joy. By partnering with the network and the fantastic hosts of its shows, we’ve been able to reach new drinkers in fresh, innovative ways. Crowd really get us and our brand, and that understanding has led to great results.”

Steve Jones, Content Director at Crowd Network, said: “Our work with BrewDog proves that sponsorships don’t need to be boring. Gone are the days of dull, run-of-the-mill ads: when brands work with us, we use our 360° content approach to excite and engage our audiences. We’re keen to carry on pushing boundaries in brand partnerships in 2025 with further collaborations.”