Mountain Man Brewery Case

PROS -By introducing a light beer the company will gain a younger demographic that has yet to establish a brand loyalty. Younger consumers are also big spenders and consumer representing 27% of total beer consumption and still growing. The introduction of a light beer may also increase awareness and consumption of Mountain Man Lager.

4. Maintain brand equity with the distinctive bitter flavor and slightly higher-than-average alcohol content of Mountain Man Lager.

The Problem(s). Manson and Associates was doing a research to determine market potential of a Coors beer distributorship for a two-county area in southern Delaware on behalf of Larry Brownlow so Larry could find the answer for the following question:

Per capita beer consumption in the country had been stable for many years. In order to find new opportunities

Even though their shipping costs were twice the industry’s, average shipping costs would have been much more had they attempted to enter other states. Besides, Coors made up for the inefficiency with the scale of their plant, the largest in the nation. The location lent itself well to Coors’ ability to differentiate its product. For example Coors was brewed using “pure Rocky Mountain spring water.” Coors had a great opportunity to serve an underserved geographical market. Seven of 24 million barrels sold in the region had to be imported from production facilities outside of the region, and Coors’ Colorado facility was more central to the area than the three other closest facilities in Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin. Coors had the second lowest production cost per barrel in the industry, in spite of their claim of the most expensive raw material costs. Their cost advantage stemmed from the industry’s highest capacity utilization, economies of scale through the country’s largest brewery, single product focus, and the industry’s fastest packaging lines. Matching their low production cost was the lowest advertising cost relative to the industry. The mystique that had been built up about Coors and their differentiating, all-natural appeal allowed them to get away with lower advertising costs than average for the industry. Coors differentiated their product, both in the

One of the weaknesses to distributing Coors beer in the two counties is the competition of other domestic and microbrew beers. Although the consumer and retailer willingness to buy Coors beer is high, will they actually purchase Coors beer when it becomes available to them? The questionnaires have strong feedback for Coors beer in the Delaware counties but people may become biased by their customer loyalty to other beer brand. There is a big enough marker share for Coors to be implemented, but will Brownlow be able to succeed in this competitive industry.

The Boston Beer Company, Inc., founded in 1984, is a leading brewer in United States, offering wide variety of high quality full-flavored, handcraftedbeers. It is distinctive due to the time-honored recipe of brewing and authentic, consistent quality of alcoholic beverages. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is the pride of BBC, regular handcrafted beer “stands for quality, inner self-worth, authenticity, and unique New England or Yankee toughness” ( Martin Roper, Chief Operating Officer). Unfortunately, the company experienced the failure of conquering light beer segment

1. How would you characterize the energy beverage category, competitors, consumers, channels, and DPSG’s category participation in late 2007?

To further decrease the likelihood of cannibalization and to diversify its location offerings and customer base, the memorandum recommends that MMBC launch MMLight into on-premise locations (such as bars and restaurants). Industry observers remark that the crucial consumer segment for beer companies are younger drinkers ages 21-27 years who are not yet loyal to a brand of beer. Women and younger drinkers typically prefer light beer. These groups frequently visit on-premise locations and represent an exciting market for MMBC. For questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail mducker2@illinois.edu or call 217.381.9578.

In 1999, they achieved record sales and earnings, selling over 100 million barrels of beer worldwide for the first time in history. August A. Busch III, Chairman of the Board and President, says his company owes its success to, “The combination of outstanding domestic beer industry fundamentals, the highest quality and freshest beer in the industry and exceptional marketing and sales execution.”

Mountain Man had high quality product. Those attributes included the smoothness, percentage of water content, and drinkability. The beer it produced was flavorful and bitter-tasting. Mountain Man had a well-known reputation as quality bee throughout the East Central region.

Boston Beer, in response to consumers’ preference changes to more flavorful and bitter tasting brews, was founded in 1894. Boston Beer implements a “quality at any cost” strategy with a strong emphasis on product differentiation and implementing quality ingredients into its products. For instance, Boston Beer was the first company to employ a stamped freshness date on its bottles and ingredients are imported from around the world. Additionally, Boston Beer relies heavily on contract brewing to gain competitive advantages. Boston Beer’s contract brewing strategy results in lower overhead and transportation costs, as well as

C. How did this affect the product’s marketing mix price, promotion, packaging and distribution decisions?

3. Which is the most attractive customer segment for MBC to target? Explain your reasoning.

b. The good results in Columbia were due to sampling, significant price discounts and couponing- can’t keep this