App will bring value and visitors to craft breweries, bars, restaurants, and hotels on Delmarva
Berlin, MD — August 26, 2019 — Shore Craft Beer, through the Ocean City Development Corporation, has been awarded a grant from the Rural Maryland Council to produce a state-of-the-art craft beer APP available in both Apple and Android formats. This App will bring value and visitors to craft breweries, bars, restaurants, and hotels on Delmarva. Any business that serves local craft beer can participate. (Contact ShoreCraftBeer.com for details or Shore Craft Beer CEO, Ann McGinnis Hillyer, at amh@Maryland.com) Programming will be accomplished by local talent and will showcase the world class beer, the world class beauty, and the world class talent we have here on the Eastern Shore.
“This will be a state-of-the-industry App,” says Ann McGinnis Hillyer, the CEO of Shore Craft Beer. “Not only will we update the functionality of our current App to serve as a better tool for users to find local craft beer near their location; it will record check-ins at local breweries, bars, or restaurants, and entertain users with challenges to win prizes just for drinking beer! A progress meter will be among the additions so users can keep track of their challenges. A feature to help users record all the local beers they drink as they visit our area establishments will be added. This will allow craft beer aficionados and the novice to find and purchase the beers they liked on the Shore when they return home. ”
Utilizing new technology the App will allow partner businesses to award users with tangible prizes. Games such as virtual scratch-offs and a spinning chance wheel will gift users with free beers, discounts, t-shirts, and other fun prizes. Very lucky players could win weekend vacation packages in Ocean City to attend the OCtoberfest and FeBREWary local craft beer festivals.
This new App will also serve as a marketing and information platform. Push notifications can be sent about upcoming events, keg taps, festival activities, and more in real time. By creating an App that harnesses geo-targeting and other state-of-the-art functionality, Shore Craft Beer is ensuring our region leads the industry and becomes a top craft beer destination!
Author: Ann McGinnis Hillyer
Ann's father was in the Corps of Engineers so she was born in Africa and moved all over the world and the United States growing up. After graduating cum laude from Duke University, she started her marketing career at an airline based out of Dulles International Airport. She furthered this career in both the for-profit and non-profit worlds before helping launch StateVentures, LLC, the publisher of OceanCity.com, Annapolis.com, and other state and regional geodomains. Here, she focuses on tourism and tourism marketing through a broad media mix including online, print, and social media efforts. While at the airline, she worked with Jim Koch and the Boston Beer Company, brewers of Sam Adams beer. This love of craft beer and the craft beer industry as well as her interest in tourism, led to the founding of ShoreCraftBeer.com and the effort to make the Shore a craft beer destination.
