Deon Appelcryn, the director of Untamed Brewing Company, has one mission—to save Africa’s wildlife, one beer at a time. Centering their work around conservation and inspired by the African wild dog, they collaborate with non-profit organizations. Using income from sales, they support the ongoing struggle to preserve endangered animals and their habitats. Untamed Brewing embraces their passion for beer, Africa and wildlife to fuel their business, vision and product collection.
Diversifying income with their social store
Unfortunately, like many other small businesses worldwide, COVID-19 has severely impacted Untamed Brewing. Being locked down for several weeks has forced the company to close its doors, unable to sell alcohol or even distribute merchandise to their international customer base. Despite their recent hardships, the team is finding new ways to keep themselves afloat and stay active with conservation efforts through merchandise.
“COVID-19 has already caused a huge impact on our business, so if it’s extended further, we don’t know how we will recover. However, we have plans in place and are positive we will see this through. In the meantime we can continue to sell our merchandise globally through Teespring to fund our business and raise awareness.”
Finding ‘wild’ inspiration
Untamed Brewing’s products are created around the face of the business—the African wild dog, making their most popular design the ‘Logo Dog Range’. Deon’s volunteer work with the species is the inspiration and story behind Untamed Brewing’s merch designs. Apart from their popular t-shirts, they offer sweatshirts, hoodies, athletic wear, and kids clothing too. Based on recent sales trends they’ve also expanded their collection to include a range of homeware and accessories like mugs, pillows, wall art, phone cases, bags and socks.
Selling on social media
As a passionate, global group of supporters on social media, Facebook is their primary platform for promoting merch. By following our Facebook promo guide, they are able to generate high engagement and click through rates on the content they share. Notably, the team also wears samples of their products regularly to raise awareness for their brand, conservation efforts, and drive sales.
“We use Facebook adverts as well as selling merchandise at events. All staff are always wearing branded clothing. We get people stopping us on the street asking for shirts! Our adverts on Facebook cause spikes in sales on Teespring, so we’re pushing those more and more.”
Building a conservation community
From connecting with locals at events to spreading awareness of their work (and beer) on social media, Untamed Brewing’s story demonstrates how you can turn a passion (or two) into a successful business that makes a real, positive impact in real life. Their merch enhances brand building by creating opportunities for followers to support their business, contribute to a worthy cause, and raise international awareness.
“Creating a custom store on Teespring provided the best option–from fast products to customer service. It enables us to build our brand and sell products at scale without having to worry about fulfillment logistics and customer support.”
Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic the Untamed Brewing team maintains a positive mindset and looks to the future. We’d like to thank them for sharing their story and wish them the best of luck in the future!
Want to support Untamed Brewing Company and their ‘pack’?
Check out their store, follow @untamed_brewing_company and visit their facebook page Untamed Brewing.