A POS Software Company Mapped 263 London Pubs by Beer Price. It Shouldn't Work.

The Map Nobody Asked For

Adam Stead works for StoreKit, a U.K. company that sells point-of-sale software to retailers. His job involves helping pubs and bars run more efficiently. So when he decided to personally research beer prices at 263 pubs across London and create three detailed maps organizing them by Underground line, the connection to his day job was... indirect at best.

StoreKit isn't a consumer brand. They're infrastructure — the kind of B2B company that wins customers because their software works, not because of clever marketing. They sell to publicans who need reliable POS systems, not beer-price tourists. And yet Stead built these maps anyway, posted articles explaining his methodology on the company blog, and highlighted which stops offered the best deals for budget-conscious drinkers.

It's the sort of project that makes perfect sense after three pints and no sense in a quarterly planning meeting.

The Specifics Matter

Stead didn't half-commit. He researched 263 pubs closest to 270 London Underground stops. That's the kind of specificity that suggests either genuine obsession or a very patient boss. He then organized his findings into three separate maps, each focusing on different tube lines, and published them with full explanations of his research process.

This wasn't a polished agency campaign with focus groups and A/B testing. It was one person doing something slightly ridiculous because it seemed interesting. The maps have almost no direct sales utility. A publican shopping for POS software isn't searching for "cheapest pint near King's Cross" — they're looking for "best bar POS system" or "restaurant software with inventory management."

But here's the thing: it probably worked.

Why Inefficiency Wins

Most B2B marketing operates on a ruthless efficiency logic. Every piece of content should drive leads. Every blog post should target high-intent keywords. Every campaign should map to a conversion funnel. StoreKit's beer maps violate all of this.

Yet they likely generated more genuine engagement and brand affinity than a dozen whitepapers on "5 Ways to Optimize Your Bar's Payment Processing." Because the maps are actually interesting. They're human. They suggest that someone at StoreKit genuinely cares about pubs — not as revenue sources, but as places worth paying attention to.

In 2026, when every B2B company is chasing AI-driven personalization and algorithmic content distribution, StoreKit just... researched beer prices manually. There's something almost defiant about that.

The Unglamorous Advantage

Companies selling unglamorous products — POS software, document management systems, industrial supplies — sometimes lean into personality as a competitive advantage. They can't out-feature the market leaders, so they become the option with actual character.

StoreKit's beer maps work because they signal domain expertise in an unexpected way. The subtext is: "We know pubs so well that we've personally visited hundreds of them and care about the details you care about." That's a more compelling sales pitch than "enterprise-grade point-of-sale solutions" could ever be.

It's also a reminder that B2B buyers are still humans who respond to surprising, generous content. A pub owner scrolling through options might not choose StoreKit because of the beer maps. But they might remember the company name. They might mention it to a colleague. They might feel a flicker of affinity that tips the scales when features and pricing are otherwise identical.

The Unanswered Question

What we don't know is whether this actually moved the needle. Did the maps drive traffic to StoreKit's site? Did they convert? Or was this a vanity project that felt good internally but had no measurable impact?

The fact that the campaign is still being highlighted years later suggests it worked. But "worked" in B2B marketing has become so synonymous with lead generation that we've forgotten other definitions: Did it make people smile? Did it make the brand memorable? Did it give employees something to be proud of?

Maybe those outcomes matter more than we admit. Maybe the most effective B2B marketing isn't optimized at all — it's just someone doing something slightly inefficient and deeply human, then hoping it resonates.

StoreKit's beer maps shouldn't work as a marketing strategy. But in a world of identical B2B messaging, being memorably weird might be the most rational move of all.