BrewDog co-founder and former CEO James Watt has revealed more details about his new brand building business, which is called Social Tip.

“This new business builds on everything I have learned from almost two decades at the cutting edge of marketing whilst building BrewDog,” wrote Watt in a social media post.

“None of the wildest campaign, craziest stunts or cleverest advertising even came close to the brand building power of genuine peer to peer recommendations.

“Authentic brand love trumps any other form of marketing, and community is increasingly becoming the cornerstone of any winning strategy.

“Building on these insights, Social Tip helps brands turn their customers into their influencers. This is good old-fashioned word of mouth marketing but amplified for the digital age and scalable through our innovative technology.”

On May 8 Watt announced he would step down as BrewDog chief executive officer and move to a new role as “Captain & Co-Founder” — with chief operating officer James Arrow becoming the firm’s new CEO.

Watt said he will remain a BrewDog board member, a director, and will also be “part time strategic advisor to the business and our to leadership team.”

Watt will also retain his large BrewDog shareholding.

Explaining how Social Tip works, Watt said:

* Someone buys something from one of its partner brands.
* They then post about it positively on social media.
* Social Tip’s proprietary technology works out the value of that post.
* That person is then rewarded in cash.

“At the end of the day, people don’t trust adverts, they don’t trust influencers or marketing. They trust people they know,” wrote Watt.

“The conventional ways of marketing are becoming less and less effective: 70% of people no longer trust adverts, Gen Z are allergic to anything that looks or feels like marketing, macro influencers impact is on the decline, and it is increasingly difficult for brands to connect authentically on fragmented online platforms.

“Social Tip enables the best brands to build hype and buzz whilst putting money back into the pockets of everyday people for posting online about the things they love.

“If you are a member of the public and would like to use Social Tip you can sign up to our waitlist at socialtip(.)io , and if you look after a brand and would like to learn more about using Social Tip for to grow your business please drop me a DM.

“The Social Tip app is due to launch in Summer 2024 and I am delighted to be building this business with Thomas K Matecki & Georgia Lee as well as some fantastic investors and advisors.

“I am also going to take you all with me every step of the way on this new journey, giving you a front row seat to this high-stakes start-up.

“I always said with BrewDog, that if it did not work out, I would happily go back to being a North Atlantic Captain.

“That remains the backup plan if Social Tip fails. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.”