The Inspired Unemployed credited for Better Beer’s $10 million record
The Inspired Unemployed have the Midas touch, with the comedy duo credited for a beer brand smashing a near-decade old record.
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They’re tradies, Instagram comedians and models, and now the Inspired Unemployed can add ‘backbone of record-breaking beer brand’ to their resume.
Thanks to larrikins Jack Steele and Matt Ford giving their seal of approval – and faces and satirical spin – to Better Beer, the brand has become the fastest-growing beer launch in Australia in almost a decade.
Steele and Ford each have a 20 per cent stake in the brand, with founder Nick Cogger also holding a large stake in the company.
Australian Financial Review reported Better Beer took off at breakneck speed, generating $7.8 million worth of sales from January 1 to March 31 this year alone.
Almost half of those sales – $3.4 million – were made in the month of March.
In the January to March period, 1.8 million litres-worth of zero-carb tinnies flew from BWS and Dan Murphy’s exclusively stocked shelves.
And since the brand launched in November 2021, it has made an eye-watering $9.5 million from 2.2 million litres of beer sold.
Better Beer is well on track to break Mighty Craft’s prediction of selling 3 million litres of the craft beverage in 2022 – a figure that has now shifted to 4 million litres by the end of June.
And with a freshly cracked ginger beer version, and a zero-alcohol version reportedly in the works, the brand is destined to keep rocketing to new heights.
The zero carb/4.2 per cent ABV craft beer is the brainchild of Nick Cogger of Torquay Beverages Co. in partnership with Mighty Craft – who had a feeling something like Better Beer would find success in Australia with the right marketing.
Enter The Inspired Unemployed, who took a 40 per cent stake in the company, giving it their unique brand and seal of approval.
“We say no to 95 per cent of brands that want to work with us,” Jack Steele told Boss Hunting.
“If it’s going to fit with our tone, then we’ll do it, but we need creative control, and we need to like the brand.”
He said the duo walk a fine line between “making money” and “forcing sh*t down people’s throats”.
“Ultimately, we want to be for the fans,” he said.
With millions of followers across social media – many heading to their page for light laughs through the lockdowns of 2020 – it was a recipe for success.
The Inspired Unemployed is hard to describe, but perfect for a fledgling beer brand. They bring a unique mixture of ‘boys-boys’ nonsense, and satirical pisstakes of all things Australiana.
It’s a brand, they told news.com.au, which draws from their “Aussie battler” personas and experiences on worksites.
The pair have drawn international attention as “anti-influencers”, making the cover of GQ Style Australia – in a shoot for Fendi that was both fashion and comedy gold – and working with Louis Vuitton, The Iconic, David Jones and Amazon Prime Video.
It’s no wonder the two larrikins, and their band of equally inspired mates, are in such high demand. Everything they touch seemingly turns to gold.
Originally published as The Inspired Unemployed credited for Better Beer’s $10 million record
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