Anvil: How did you end up as Senior Brand Manager for Pabst Blue Ribbon?
Neal Stewart: I'm from the St. Louis, MO area originally, and out of college I freelanced as a field marketing and promotions rep. I worked for all kinds of clients and traveled all across the country. This gave me a great opportunity to see and meet tons of different types of people and see how they interacted with brands and events. It also taught me a certain sense of "street marketing" - what actually works and what doesn't.

So after a few years of that, a friend of mine (who was doing the same thing) and I decided to move to California to work at fast food restaurants the rest of our lives. He later backed out and I moved to Austin, TX and try to find a real job. The night before I moved, I found a job listing on the internet for a "Divisional Marketing Manager" job at Pabst in San Antonio. Having worked on some beer business thru one of my prior gigs, I thought I would give it a shot. I didn't even know how far San Antonio was from Austin.

After living at a friend's house for a couple months and pounding the pavement everyday - I finally got a call to interview for the job and got it. And it was just in time, I was out of money and working a temp job at the TX Worker's Compensation Fund, removing staples from documents so that they could be scanned thru a machine. That was 3 ½ years ago, and a few people quit and here I am.

Anvil: What has been your greatest success at PBR?
Stewart: It's been being part of the Pabst Blue Ribbon brand's resurgence. It's almost unheard of in the world of beer to bring a brand back from several years of decline, and with our +14% trend in 2003 - it marks the second straight year in positive numbers. I truly have the best job in the industry right now. Who wouldn't want to work on a brand that experiencing a resurgence, but even better doing it with little budget and in a way that will build a long-term and loyal consumer. Sure, I don't get to sponsor big sports events and rub elbows with celebs, but who cares? I would rather hang out with local bands in dive bars.

Anvil: Is there any secret ingredient you can share with us that makes PBR so tasty?
Stewart: Probably the hops.

Anvil: What is the strangest thing someone has done to get free PBR?
Stewart: Well, I can say that someone tattooed their head for a PBR gas station jacket.

Anvil: How is it that Portland is your #1 market nationwide?
Stewart: It's pretty weird considering that Portland isn't exactly a huge city. But I think it's just the city's love for the "no false promises" approach. Portland is also a city that likes to do things a little different. They embrace change very well and have good taste. The really weird thing is that I have spent a lot of time there and it is my favorite city - no lie. My wife went to Oregon State and tells me that I was meant to live there.

Anvil: Any PBR Ice in the works?
Stewart: It already exists! The biggest market is California and the brand only makes up about 2% of the brand family's volume - so it's small. Overall, the Ice category is declining.

Anvil: What is your average day like?
Stewart: My average day is pretty busy. I roll in to work about 15 minutes late on a consistent basis. I'm big on email so I spend most of my time typing, while listening to internet radio (KEXP out of Seattle for the most part). I spend quite a bit of time out on the road.been to lot of really good bars, and ate a lot of greasy food. Travel is tough, because our sales reps always want to show the brand manager what's going on in the marker - and these are guys that start work at 6am. Then they want to stay out until 2am. I can do the 2am part, but not the 6am.

Anvil: Do you have any hot models lined up for future ad campaigns?
Stewart: I really haven't got to do too much with the typical hot beer models that seem to go hand-in-hand with most beer brands. I've done a little with another one of our brands that I used to manage, Lone Star Beer. My experience in that was weird to say the least. I went to Daytona Beach, FL for the photo shoot and met the photographer who supposedly also managed a "model boot camp" out of his apartment. So, basically his business was swindling 18 year old girls into thinking he could teach them the ropes of modeling, while stockpiling photos for his porn site.

Anvil: Anything else you want to tell Anvil readers?
Stewart: I love fried shrimp!