Branding a craft brewery, winery or distillery in Ontario inside the AGCO advertising rules

AGCO's interim standards say no one may advertise or promote liquor in Ontario unless the advertising follows the Registrar's guidelines. Those guidelines apply to manufacturers such as breweries, wineries and distilleries and to licensed establishments.

The core rules are short. An ad must promote a general brand or type of liquor and stay away from promoting the consumption of liquor in general. It must avoid promoting excessive consumption or depicting excessive or prolonged consumption. It must make no claim, direct or implied, of healthful, nutritive, curative, dietetic, stimulative or sedative benefits.

The guideline that reshapes creative work is the one on success. Advertising must avoid implying that liquor is required for obtaining or enhancing social, professional or personal success, athletic prowess, sexual prowess, opportunity or appeal, or the enjoyment of any activity. Anyone appearing in an ad must avoid suggesting, directly or indirectly, that drinking contributed to the success of their endeavours.

That removes the standard lifestyle script: the drink that makes the party, the pint that follows the victory, the bottle that wins the date. A scene can include the product, but the product must take no credit for the outcome.

Advertising must hold no appeal, direct or indirect, to persons under the legal drinking age. The guidelines name children's songs and fictional characters as elements to leave out, and say stationary outdoor advertising should stay at least 200 metres from a primary or secondary school.

For craft producers this matters at the label stage. Cartoon mascots, candy flavour cues and toy like packaging are common in craft beer and sit close to the line. Design choices made for shelf appeal should be tested against the audience rule before the cans are printed.

Radio and television ads also follow the CRTC's Code for Broadcast Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages, which among other things rules out messages directed at persons under the legal drinking age, imperative language urging people to buy or consume, and scenes showing the product being consumed.

With lifestyle promises unavailable, the rules point craft producers toward the material that separates them from mass brands in the first place: where it is made, who makes it, what goes in it and how. Provenance, process and people are all open territory under the guidelines.

A brewery that builds its brand on a named water source, a local grain grower and a founder with a point of view needs none of the banned promises. Its advertising promotes the brand, which is precisely what AGCO asks for, and it is far harder for a competitor to copy than a party scene.