big interview phantom music management THE NUMBER OF THE YEAST
In 2013, Maiden and Robinsons Brewery united to make Trooper beer. John Robinson, Trooper brand manager, details their success...
From beer to eternity: (L-R): John Robinson and Bruce Dickinson
How did the partnership between Iron Maiden and Robinsons start?
Back in 2012, they first approached us and we were quite hesitant – and fairly openly hesitant – because it’s a family Cheshire sleepy brewer meets heavy metal band. It wasn’t really until we met Bruce and appreciated how much he genuinely knew about beer that we started getting interested. What we didn’t want to do was a gimmicky beer that just slapped Iron Maiden’s name on it – and Iron Maiden didn’t either. Also, you look at how passionate and loyal their fans are, and their target audience isn’t that dissimilar to ours. People who like Maiden also like beer. It made sense.
Did the partnership surpass your expectations? We were caught slightly on the back foot. It went into Morrisons initially and quite literally flew off the shelves. We got caught out, as did they. We were brewing for the first time in our 178-year history for five days a week, three times a day to try and keep up with demand. We’ve never done that before. We’re over 15 million pints sold now, to over 55 different countries across the world.
the whole tour we’ve saved our fans well over £1 million in inflated secondary pricing by there being none. And also, fans know they are proper tickets from source, not false or counterfeit. I think it’s well worth it, and hopefully before we tour the UK again in arenas, the government will have better legislation to protect the public from profiteering.
What do you want to see happen next in the secondary market? RS: That the would-be seller has to add to the details that you’ve got to put on the secondary websites: you need the face value put on there, where the tickets are coming from, which person or organisation, and you need to have seat numbers so you know exactly where they are, and you can police it better. That’s a start. I’d also like to see a 10% cap on what tickets can be sold for above face value. I think the profits are excessive and it’s all out of people’s pockets. And it means as well, from a music industry standpoint, if you take, say, that £1m we’ve saved them on the
12 MAY 01 Keepers of their flame: (L-R): Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris
secondary ticketing, that could have been spent on merchandise, catalogue or, more importantly, concerts with smaller or new bands. The only people who benefit are these companies, which is wrong. And that’s me being polite.
Moving on, Maiden’s operations have expanded hugely in recent years. What’s Dave brought to the company to assist with that? RS: His experience worldwide was very strong. With Maiden, pretty much everywhere in the world we’re very successful, and the more you can have contact with people on the ground in the big markets in particular, the more you can achieve. But also, since Dave joined us, with Trooper coming in, and the headphones, and the game, there are a lot of wider marketing issues involved so it very much needs expertise and hands-on looking after, which he does.
What is the biggest challenge attached to Maiden’s name serving as an umbrella for so many ventures? Dave Shack: I think it’s keeping it all believable. We work so hard here on everything not being spurious or opportunistic. Is there a good reason to do this? Is it going to enhance what we do? Is it right that we’re doing it? That’s how we treat everything we look at. We say no more than we say yes. An opportunity to do some high end quality earphones? Steve [Harris, Iron Maiden founder/bassist] is known for his great ears and his sonic capabilities and qualities, so yes: that’s the
right thing to do. You make them as good as they can be, not a gimmick. We’re not about gimmicks at all. Humour? Yes, that’s definitely a big part of the canon. But the beer, the headphones, the game, it’s about quality – it’s about, Will it enhance the band’s reputation? Will it take it outside the areas we’re already strong in and magnify it? That’s all the things we look at. Some shitty, short term deal offering more money? Not interested. It’s always about the long game. RS: We approve everything that comes out with Maiden’s name on. It goes across mine or Shacky’s desk. We see it all and make sure it’s the right quality and that it works.
Regarding the expanded aspect of the business, what are you most proud of in terms of achievement? DS: I think the beer has got to be a standout. I think the biggest cheer – excuse the pun – I take from that is really the fact that so many other bands have launched a beer and disappeared. Without wishing ill on anyone else, it’s because I think we’ve done it differently to everybody else. Bruce is an ale aficionado, and I don’t just mean he likes to drink beer. He’s become a student of beer taste and hop mixes, he treats it like the science it undoubtedly is. He had a taste profile he wanted to achieve with Trooper. From the very beginning, it’s believable because Bruce has been involved for nine months getting that beer to taste like that. It’s not just going, Hey mate at the brewery, I want it to taste a bit like Newcastle Brown Ale. He physically got stuck in there, made his choices, increased the ABV – that’s what fans appreciate. RS: For me, it’s the game. It’s brilliant, and I think the way the Eddies and characters have been translated into it has been exceptional.
Iron Maiden (L-R): Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Nicko McBrain
MUSIC Week
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