Freewheeling ex-car owners? Skinny dipping conservationists? It's all in a day's work for Greg Owsley, chief branding officer at New Belgium Brewery. In this SLM interview, Greg explains how New Belgium taps consumers' sense of fun to get its sustainability message across. (To listen to our conversation with Greg, click here.)

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SLM: It's my impression that beer drinkers choose their products based on taste. How do you see New Belgium's sustainability initiatives contributing to the brand?

Greg: I couldn't agree more - and drinkers of craft beer in particular base their choice on taste. But there's also plenty of evidence that they want to support a company that's doing good things. That's part of the appeal of the craft movement - to get back to companies that have a bit of a soul. For New Belgium, that sense of purpose includes a commitment to sustainability.

SLM: How does that commitment play out in practice?

Greg: Sustainability has been a part of the company since before we bottled a single beer. When our founders, a husband-and-wife team, started New Belgium out of their basement in 1991, they began with a list of values - and environmental stewardship and social responsibility were at the top. Those core values have informed our decisionmaking ever since.

In 1998, for example, our staff voted to go 100% wind-electrical powered.. At the time we were the largest private consumer of wind power in the country. That wasn't necessarily the goal - what we really wanted was to set the precedent that might inspire larger companies to follow suit. That's just one of the many green efforts we're involved with, and there's still a lot left for us to do.

SLM: New Belgium has built a strong reputation not only for its environmental responsibility and social engagement efforts but also for the quirky ad campaigns that promote them. What are some of the more out-there things you've tried?

Greg: The thing we're probably most famous for is the Tour de Fat in support of our flagship beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale. It's a ballyhoo of bicycling and beer - as much a celebration of the joy of biking as it is about our product. In addition to promoting the beer itself, we wanted to get the message across that biking is a great alternative to driving, both for the environment and for our own health. We now hold the record for the largest bike parade in the U.S., and recently we've taken it even farther. Consumers can trade in their cars for bicycles right there at the event. They hand over their keys, their title, and their vehicle, and we present them with a custom-made bicycle that they can use for the rest of their lives.

SLM: Any takers?

Greg: Eleven people did it in 2007. We're going to check in with participants from last year and this year and make a documentary film out of their experience so far.

SLM: How do campaigns like Tour de Fat factor into New Belgium's overall brand strategy?

Greg: As a matter of fact, we used to think of our sustainability agenda and our branding agenda as totally separate. Over time, however, we came to realize that as a company there's only so much we can do. Even if we achieved zero waste, or made entirely organic beer, how much would that really add up to? We decided that it was time to think beyond our "splash" to the "ripples" we have the potential to create. That's when we began to consider the branding side. One of the things we do really well is get people involved and feeling good about things, and we thought the sustainability movement could use that energy.

SLM: So your philosophy is to bring more of a sense of fun to the sustainable lifestyle?

Greg: Yes! Who better than a brewery to promote the idea that sustainable living doesn't have to be all about abstinence? It can be fun, too.

SLM: Being a smaller operation, New Belgium probably has a little more agility when it comes to branding innovation than, say, a Budweiser or a Miller.

Greg: I definitely think so. And in a way, bringing sustainability advocacy into our advertising gives us more of a safety net. For example, we do some pretty racy ads for a brand called Skinny Dip, in which naked bathers are shown standing in a river holding up signs that read "Save Our Rivers." We show some bare butts. If the primary message weren't river advocacy, we'd have a tough time justifying it.

We may be smaller than the Budweisers of the world, but that doesn't mean that our voice can't be as loud as theirs.

SLM: What are some of the projects you're working on right now?

Greg: We've got a major name in water conservation who has asked us to be a sponsor. He's already requested to be a featured skinny dipper in our ads for next year.

We've also working on something called Team Wonder Bike, a peer advocacy program in which participants who can't give up their cars entirely pledge to increase their number of "bike-not-car miles." We've got 12,000 members so far, and we'd love to see that number double or quadruple. Already participants have committed enough bike-not-car miles to circumference the Earth. That's all the ROI we need on a campaign like that.

For more on New Belgium's green-marketing approach, read this dispatch from Sustainable Brands '08!