Mountain Man Brewing Company Essay

Problem Definition grass macrocosm Brewing Company (MMBC) has enjoyed being in top position in premium beer segment for the previous(prenominal) fifty years and are now facing a 2% decline in revenue whilst a change in leadership infuses untested energy to bring a change in their product line. Chris Prangel, son of the retired president and owner of MMBC faces the challenge of success in fully implementing a marketing strategy to barge in a washy beer in a growing beer segment, as maintaining status-quo would no more be an option to sustain their vivacious position in mart in the next five years.AnalysisStrengths stilt Man Brewing Company was known as the Best Beer in West Virginia because of its flavor and distinctive bitter taste additionally, it was selected as Americas Championship Lager at the American Beer Championship in 2005. Also, it had held the top market position in the lager market in West Virginia for almost 50 years. As a result, potty Man succeeded at the beer market by earning over $50 million and selling over 520,000 barrels of Mountain Man Lager beer within the West Central region.Mountain Man had high brand awareness, and it was in particular recognizable among working-class males in the East Central region because of its product quality, positioning, and brand equity. In order to keep estimateable relationship with its customers, Mountain Man had many branding activities. Hence, Mountain Man Brewing Company remained strongly in the beer market due to its strong brand loyalty as they capitalised on the local factor.WeaknessesMountain Man Brewing Company produced only one product, Mountain Man Lager, and distributed to only the West Central region with limited distributions. Moreover, Mountain Man targeted on only one segment, the blue-collar men who are mid-age and above. Although its core consumers love Mountain Man Lager, the market product preference had changed to brighten beer instead of traditional beer therefore, Mountain M an Lager was rated very low as a purchasing preference. Unlike many former(a) major beer producers, Mountain Man did not crap any advertisement in fact, it relied only on word of mouth. Mountain Man might not have passable money to launch Mountain Man Light that follows the modern trend.OpportunityMountain Man can consider three possible opportunities, which increases potential consumers and encourage revenues. Firstly, number of younger beer drinkers has been consistently increased and expected to positively influence the growth of the profits. Secondly, If Mountain Man launches light beer category, it may reach younger drinkers who two show positive attitudes towards light beer and brand awareness of Mountain Man itself. The likability of younger drinkers toward the light beer will optimistically affect the MMBCs revenue ( depict 1). Lastly, by expending product lines, product and distributors may build stronger beneficial relationship with brewers.ThreatsOne of the threats M ountain Man Brewing Company faced was the declining boilers suit beer consumption per capita by 2.3% since 2001 in United States of America. According to the case, the declining consumption is attributed to the competition from wine and spirit-based drinks, an increase in federal excise tax, initiatives encouraging moderation and own(prenominal) responsibility, and increasing health concerns. Furthermore, categorising Distributors might also be a threat to this company because they became more cautious as they could refuse to work with small brands that have low margins and turnover. The increasing number of large breweries is also a challenge the company in the market to remain profitable smaller companies are fix up on pressure to stay in the beer market.Alternatives1. Introducing Mountain Man LightIf Chris goes ahead and launches a beer less strong than the premium lager beer using Mountain Mans brand name as Mountain Man Light, it would result in increase in revenues as they would be launching into a growing light beer market segment and the existing brand image might help them reduce advertising costs. However, this move will collide with them lose their existing customers loyalty, along with product cannibalization, brand erosion and might not be perceived well by the existing customers as well their target customers. 2. Introducing Light Beer by some other nameChoosing a new brand name for the light beer has a unconvincing edge over choosing Mountain Man Light. As discussed in the case, there is a chance of the company losing its identity when they are in midst of other light beers such as Coors Light. Creating a brand identity would be difficult as customers might not find it easy to recognize moreover another beer which ends with Light. In addition to the benefits in the first alternative, creating a new brand name for the light beer would make sure there is no brand dilution or cannibalization. However there could be additional advertising cos ts and they cannot leverage the existing strong brand name.RecommendationsI would recommend to go ahead with the second alternative of not naming the light beer as Mountain Man Light and to give a different name as it targets a younger population who look for healthier beer drinking by consuming fewer calories while maintaining the same level of alcohol intake.Brand individualismCreating a brand identity for a new product would be challenging. However, a growing market segment would always be on the mindset of new products and this might work in favor to MMBC. To distinguish the light beer from other competitors they will have to come up with a creative quest after line for their beer.Target MarketBased on the given statistics it appears that customers of the age group between 21 and 27 are the highest percentage of people who would favor light beer. They should amend their marketing campaigns to suit this new target market.PromotionMMBC should concentrate on making their promoti on campaigns more effective. They must promote light beer in pubs, discos and night clubs. The light beer segment is in growth stage of the product life cycle which indicates soaring sales, increasing revenues, and growing consumers. To make full use of it an effective marketing campaign spanning across different media must be undertaken.