Mountain-Man-Beer-Story

MKT 247 Case 1

Ya Xiao

Professor: Anne Hamby

Mountain Man Brewing Co.: Bringing the Brand to Light

1. Uncover the degree of the problem by projecting profitability for the next five years if no new brand is introduced. Use the assumptions mentioned in the case.

From the revenue report, even there is no new brand is introduced, the sales would continuously decreasing by 2% each year. It is very serious to a lean company.

At the same time, big companies are constantly throwing new products into the marketplace. So MMBC’s sales is going to decrease for the next 5 years.

1. What has made MMBC successful? What distinguishes it from competitors?

MMBC’s success have these reasons, first, they use a meticulous selection of rare, Bavarian hops and unusual strains of barley, which comes out a flavorful, bitter-tasting beer. Their history, and independent, family-owned brewery impression create an aura of authenticity and irreplaceable position to their core drinkers. Second, strong brand awareness is necessary to their success too, market research shows that Mountain Man was recognized as a brand of working-class males in the Eat Central region. Third, the perception of good quality and the brand loyalty they cultivated both very important. MML’s distinctively bitter flavor and higher-than-average alcohol content contributed to their brand equity.

What is distinctive about MMBC’s product?

These are factors customers were considered when they are buying beer products: taste, price, the occasion being celebrated, perceived quality, brand image, tradition and local authenticity.

• Taste: Mountain Man Beer Company was founded in 1925, after reformulated an old family brew recipe, it became a high-quality and bitter-tasting beer.
• Price: Its price still kept similar to premium domestic brands which was very acceptable to most of beer drinkers.
• The occasion being celebrated: MMBC’s target market is blue collars and males over 40 years old, and with its acceptable price and unique bitter-taste, customers can afford to buy it whenever they want to have some beer for relax, dinner or parties.
• Perceived quality: MMBC using rare, Bavarian hops and unusual strains of barley to manufacture beer with high “drinkability”.
• Brand image: Since it has respectable market share for an old school, regional brewery, its package has a crew of coal miners printed on a brown bottle, which was attractive to their core customers- blue collars and males over 40 years old.
• Tradition and local authenticity: at first, MMBC was a old family brewery, then it got developed to the holder of top market among lagers in Vest Virginia for about 50 years, but it still keep the authenticity of a family-owned brewery.

 What is distinctive about MMBC’s customers?

From the profile of Beer Drinkers by Beer Type by Key Demographics, 2005, over 81% of customers of MML are male, about 83% of customers are over 35 years old, and about 72% of customers’ household income are lower than 75,000 per year.