Mountain Man Brewing Co.

One of the biggest problems companies may face is keeping up with the current trends and habits of all customers in their respective age groups. In a time period where trends can change as rapidly as they come, that makes it even harder for smaller and more domestic companies to compete with the larger, more known brands. This is especially true for the beer market, where the younger population consumes the more than 27% of all beer consumption in the United States and that number is still growing. In addition, these adults age 21-27 spend twice as much per capita compared to beer drinkers over the age of 35 and is projected to

Boston Beer Company (BBC) has enjoyed much success with their craft beers with Samuel Adams as their main focus. Being the leader of this segment, overtopping five of their competitors combined (Exhibit 1), the company now must decide how to take advantage of the light beer market. Boston Lightship, their current light beer, had been a small contributor in BBC’s product line. Currently, it is facing dwindling sales with product volumes down from 12 000 cases per month to 3000 cases per month.

Throughout most of its history, the Coors Brewing Company (Coors) has been a regionalized brewer within the United States, specializing in high-quality beer through by virtue of its source water selection, stringent production standards, and cold filtered brewing approach. As the company expanded its distribution to new markets within the U.S. in attempt to gain market share, it made a strategic decision to maintain a majority of its brewing operations at its primary production facility in Golden, Colorado. This decision was based upon the desire to preserve its core production strengths through close family control. However, as the company desires to expand its market presence beyond the

Iron City Brewing Company made its way into Pittsburgh brewing scene in 1861 and was known as one of the first brewers in the city, accompanying Wainwright Brewery in Lawrenceville and M. Winter Brothers Brewery. Iron City Brewing Company was founded by Edward Frauenheim who was originally from Germany.

According to Boston Beer Portfolio (1997) showing that Boston Lager and Seasonals have grown by 5% and 10% respectively since 1996. Moreover, if we take a look at Exhibit 7 showing men preferences over regular beer we will see that 45% of weekly servings are SAM (Boston Beer Product). People may rely on their past experience of drinking regular beer by BBC and take a chance to try light beer by the same company, switching from Bud and Amstel to Lightship.

As time had progressed on, new trends of beer drinkers transitioned a decline in selling performance for the first time ever in the Mountain Man Brewery Company. The decline revealed a weakness within the company that only brought forth fear of the unknown future of the company’s product and brand. Oscar had recently hired the next generation on MMBC his son Chris to manage the marketing operations. Chris had presented to his father the possible expansion of introducing a new beverage of choice for the upcoming beer drinkers. Recent research amongst beer drinker’s uncovered potential growth for MMBC and the fear of eroding the historical brand of loyalty.

Should MMBC introduce a light beer, why and why not? (20 pts) Using the POP/POD framework, how would you position Mountain Man Light if it is launched (in answering this question, be sure to discuss the POPs and PODs of your chosen strategy)? (10 pts) POP: The basic product offering that everyone in the game provided as customers expectation. For Mountain Man Light, it is alcoholic beverage which offers the same product feature like refreshing and thirst quenching. In addition, similar to all beer brands, it has also shared similar characteristics, such as ingredients, relative price, production, product design and package.

Mountain Man Brewing Company’s management is considering entry into the light beer market segment. The organization currently has excess capacity at their manufacturing facility and can accommodate another line with minimal production cost. The light beer market has the

 Core customer base may perceive the light product on the store shelves as MMBC ―selling out‖ their target market in order to cater to another segment which MMBC perceives as better

The images of both the product(s) and the company have been crucial; one might even say integral to MMBC’s success. To introduce a new product like light beer might very well hurt that image. While light beer is popular nationwide, that refers to a national trend that may

Chris Prangel, a recent MBA graduate, has returned home to West Virginia to manage the marketing operations of the Mountain Man Beer Company, a family-owned business he stands to inherit in five years. Mountain Man brews just one beer, Mountain Man Lager, also known as "West Virginia 's beer" and popular among blue-collar workers. Due to changes in beer drinkers ' taste preferences, the company is now experiencing declining sales for the first time in its history. In response, Chris wants to launch Mountain Man Light, a "light beer" formulation of Mountain Man Lager, in the hope of attracting younger drinkers to the brand. However, he encounters resistance from senior managers. Mountain Man Lager 's

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) started as a small café in Waitsfield, Vermont in the year of 1981. It was in 1993 that the company went public and acquired the early phase of Keurig Incorporated Inc, and then completed the acquisition in 2006. (Unknown.( 2004). Gmcr.Retrieved from http://www.gmcr.com/about-GMCR.html) Once these two companies combined it made the way we drink beverages different than ever before in both the home and office. According to GMCR’s website “Today, GMCR is recognized as a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, and acknowledged for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology, and environmentally and socially responsible business practices.” ((Unknown.( 2004).

Light Beer Introduction and Expansion- Boston Beer has just unveiled their newest product of Samuel Adams Light to the better beer market. In 2004, the light Samuel Adams out sold the original for the first time in the company’s history. We believe that this will be the key to Boston Beer’s success to maintain its hold in the better beer industry and bring in new demand for Boston Beer. Financial Stability Boston Beer’s financials are impressive as compared to the big names in the beer industry. One of the more impressive areas is the lack of debt and the ability to leverage the company to new heights. In 2000, Boston Beer had no actual long term debt on the books and since has brought on very little. This is mainly due to the strategy of contracting to other brewers to maintain low risk for the well being of the company. The profitability, capital structure, and liquidity for Boston Beer all appear to be stronger than the averages in the alcoholic industry which shows the strong stability of the firm. Boston Beer’s Altman Z-score is at 3.49 which is considered safe and good investment grade quality. In conclusion, Boston Beer has many choices on where to take the company in the 21st Century. With overall high quality in its financial structure, Boston Beer has the ability to one day grow and become a dominant force within the beer industry as a whole. Valuation Models such as the free cash flow, long-run residual income, and abnormal earnings growth showed

At the same time, as the Light brand gains market share locally it would grow in popularity through untraditional advertising: grass roots marketing. And MMB has know for some time, word of mouth (WOM) advertising is more effective than the traditional, lifestyle advertising other national beer brands have used to reach young drinkers. MMB also would have strong brand strategy and visual identification to brand the Light beer, which had achieved with the Lager product line.

I bought Miller Lite almost every weekend when I was in college and now that I am not working and I am in graduate school, living on a tight budget again, I buy Miller Lite at least once when I go out on the weekends. Miller Lite is not the brand I go to for a crafted, hearty beer, but it’s what I go to when I want to have an enjoyable, relaxing night with a few friends and when I’m not looking to spend a lot of money. A unique benefit that I appreciate that the brand offers me is the low-price for quality beer. Like stated before, although Miller Lite is not the beer I would go to if I was looking for a crafted brew, it is the beer I go to that never fails to show me a good time for a low price. I have always enjoyed their marketing campaigns and Super Bowl commercials, which is another feature I appreciate. Along with delivering a good product, they make it fun and enjoyable for consumers, from a marketing standpoint. I am a brand loyalist because Miller Lite provides me with a product that has never let me down; I have never had a problem with the beverage. The product has never let me down because it continually has good deals and promotions, it consistently tastes good, and I associate the drink with the good times I have had in the past, which makes me want to continue experiencing those good times and create new memories.