The New Belgium Brewing Case Study

In 1844, the Empire Brewery was founded by Jacob Best and his sons in Milwaukee, WI. In 1860, Jacob’s son Phillip took over and renamed the brewery the Phillip Best Company. Phillip’s daughter, Maria married a steamship captain, Frederick Pabst. Captain Pabst sold his shipping interest and bought a partnership stake in the brewery. In 1872, Captain Pabst became President of the company. In 1889, he renamed the business the Pabst Brewing Company.

Boston Beer’s strategy is primarily focused on growth through differentiation. The sources of its competitive advantage can be classified as a company that provides high quality beer with unique flavors, a market driven approach, and a very efficient contract brewing strategy.

Strives to be the leader in micro brewing while maintaining the core values it started with and had employee buy in even before it went” 100 % employee owned in2013” (Gorski, 2013).

The company exemplifies the typical branding success story. Since its inception, Red Bull’s successful market strategy and ways of penetrating the lucrative energy drink market has demonstrated the company’s ability to think outside the competitive box through its innovative branding and sales and distribution strategy. Since the targeted’ age range is quite young, Red Bull employed unique methods to attract its customers. Amongst these non-conventional advertising routes, Red Bull used marketing « below the line », « buzz marketing », and « tribal marketing » (Brocooli, April 2012).

Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company, located in Kiln, MS, is the first microbrewery in the state and specializes in manufacturing and distributing beers with distinct southern flavors. The brewing company, established in 2003, has found success within its home state and also within restaurants and retailers situated in eighteen more states including the surrounding southern states and states as far north as New York and Illinois according to its website, Lazymagnolia.com. The following SWOT analysis will evaluate the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company as well as the external opportunities and threats experienced within the market and business environment.

As New Belgium’s distribution continues to expand away, NBB can revisit the idea of new television advertisement (local channels in specific). Advertising through television can help NBB promote its brand while maintaining its philosophy. In addition, NBB can create and place pop-up bars or beer trailers around the country to expand customers knowledge of the product. This is an opportunity for NBB to hand out samples of their product while getting feedback through customer surveys. NBB should also host more events like beer festivals, community fair, and more.

Advertising is a major factor in the promotion of a product and/ or a company and it provides a visual element for the customers to remember (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005, p. 182). The commercial that was first created, depicted everything the company stood for in a brief overview of the product and it was essential in marketing the product and company to new customers. In every commercial NBB creates, the marketing team needs to stay focused on how and why the company was created and try to reach as many customers as possible. The company needs to stay true to their roots and not get diverted away from the mission statement of the company because a down to earth approach is more appealing to customers. When a customer can identify and associate with the ad, it is more likely that the ad will help develop and strengthen the brand making it more appealing to customers (Cramphorn, 2014). Therefore, New Belgium Brewing needs to focus on employee commitment to their mission statement and creating advertisements that customers can identify with in order to makes its branding and messaging resonate with consumers in different parts of the

The Coors Brewing Company was founded back in 1873 by two German immigrants Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler. The two combined invested $20,000, $18,000 of which came from Schueler and the other $2,000 from Coors. The location of the brewery was in the mining town of Golden, Colorado. This location was picked because Mr. Coors believed the key ingredient in beer was the water source. The river that flowed through this mining town was perfect for his beer. The two investors worked together for seven years until Coors bought out Schueler and became the sole owner of the brewery in 1880. When prohibition finally hit Colorado in the year 1916, Mr. Coors was forced to find other means of making money. The brewery was converted to produce malted milk which he would then sell to candy companies. Four years after Adolph Coors passing, in 1929, prohibition is ended and his son, Adolph Coors Jr., takes over the family business. The distribution range of the company quickly expands and by 1948, it stretches across 11 states. It would remain this way for almost 30 years before they start to expand to try and reach a nationwide audience. In 2005, now in its fourth generation of Coors family management, the Coors Brewing Company votes to merge with Molson Brewing Company in Canada to form the Molson Coors Brewing Company. Together they are the world’s seventh largest brewer. Two years later

The Coors brewing industry had many ups and downs throughout its history dating back to its start in 1873 (Adolf Coors in the Brewing Industry). There were times of great growth and expansion that would get interrupted by numerous setbacks. Some were small and some led to extreme changes. It sounds similar to any type of business. However, the different generations of the Coors family seemed to find ways to usually compete with their competitors and maintain the success of the company. It was also very challenging. Different changes had to be made for each new obstacle that came their way. Over a century has gone by since its start in Golden, Colorado, and the business seems to still be available in stores around the world (Adolf Coors in the Brewing Industry).

New Belgium brewery has increasingly grew throughout the years since their development in 1991. Despite the dominance of the “Big Three” (Budweiser, Miller, and Coors), NBB needs to be aggressive and strive to invest in the attractive beer industry in able to grow more. If positioned correctly, NBB and its main brand, Fat Tire, can continually grow. An evaluation of the industry, the business itself, its brands, and the customers and competitors is needed in order to be continuously successful.

Belgium is known for a culture of high-quality beer and this concept was formulated by an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado. The electrical engineer, Jeff Lebesch, was traveling through Belgium on his fat-tired mountain bike when he envisioned the same high-quality beer in Colorado. Lebesch acquired the special strain of yeast used in Belgium and took it back to his basement in Colorado and the experimentation process was initiated. His friends were the samplers and when they approved the beer it was marketed. In 1991, Lebesch opened the New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) with his wife, Kim Jordan, as the marketing director. The first beer and continued bestseller, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was named after the bike ride in

The Adolph Coors Case Study proved the dedication and self-reliance Coors brings to the beer industry. Having overcome great adversity by surviving the prohibition years, Coors durability and sustainability are also complimentary points on the structure of the company. Coors is a family owned company that had humble beginnings in Colorado and within 100 years grew into a multimillion-dollar company. Coors’ controlled manufacturing process is a sign of their individuality in the beer industry, this was not an unknown fact, however, as they were receiving orders to ship Coors beer all across the nation as of 1972. The case study allowed an internal and external point of view, which was highly beneficial to properly analyze their upcoming problem within the company.

Through their brand recognition, New Belgium Brewery has won the beer battle between most of their competitors. Beer connoisseurs know New Belgium Brewery by their infamous New Belgium Fat Tire. Fat Tire has helped New Belgium gain a competitive advantage because of the beers high demand. Also, New Belgium’s social responsibility is a major part of why they obtain the competitive advantage over their competitors. New Belgium is a simple company that portrays an economical friendly production, a strong family back- round, and consumer-based market strategy. New Belgium focuses on three responsibilities, social responsibility, employee responsibility, and environmental responsibility. Also, because of their focuses, they have become one of the top competitors to other craft beer

Belgium is home of the finest ales and have been known to brew for centuries. So when Jeff Lebesch, an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado took a bicycle trip through Belgium it made him realize there may be a market back home to sell Belgian-style ale. Jeff returned home with hopes to experiment and brew his own beer in his basement from the various ingredients he received on his trip. When his friends approved of the ales he started marketing them to the local town. He later opened New Belgium Brewing Company in 1991. His wife, Kim Jordan was the company’s marketing director. They named their first brew “Fat Tire Amber Ale” after Jeff’s

impact of the decision on the cost structures and the resultant margins for each of the