3 things big beer brands can do to save themselves!
The Anheuser-busch’s and the SABMiller’s of the beer world have had a stranglehold on the industry for decades as marketing triumphed over product quality, those days are coming to an end. Long gone are the days when the mega breweries could rely on industrial manufacturing and a large advertising budget to drive demand along multiple consumer segments simultaneously with undisguisable positioning.
The beer market topped out and in order to gain market share brands lent their names to any and every product extension available. Big beer violated the cardinal rule of positioning, don’t try to become all things to all people or your brand will stand for nothing to everyone. Big beer marketed to fratboys, refined connoisseurs, jocks and hipsters identically and then wondered why brand loyalty in these segments plummeted in the age of light beer, millennials flocking to spirits and the rebirth of craft beer. These changes have fragmented the industry and left big beer sinking through the cracks.
As a millennial male I cannot distinguish between miller, budwieser or coors as their positioning is identical. I have probably sat through countless hours of big beer adverts and I don’t have a connection with a single one. The modern millennial male requires more than the promise of a good time; cheap laughs and scantily clad women to really connect with a brand. Craft beer offers consumers something more meaningful. Millenials are shaping the alcholic beverage industry and according to mintel over half of millenials over 25 are drinking craft beer. Craft beer is offering consumers great tasting beer sure, but the story behind the suds is just as important as what lies in the pint glass; the location, philosophy, ingredients, locality and the craftsmen behind the beer offers consumers something genuine, something to believe in.
We require you to show us the quality of your beer, the craft behind it; we want to see authenticity and personality. These are the new criterions for success in this new modern beerscape. There are a few things big beer brands can do.
- Don’t sell more beer sell better beer
Big beer is now offering premiumized craft centric beers to consumers which offer a higher quality and a higher price. Anheuser busch’s sales have been down 1.2% but their revenues have increased 3.9% in the last quarter of 2013 thanks to the introduction of budlight platinum and black crown. Research from Mintel suggests that drinkers will pay more for a product they deem superior. Its up to big beer to prove to customers that their craft centric beers are is indeed superior. Don’t sell more beer sell better beer.
2. Show some personality
Newcastle borwn ale didnt follow the crowd and flock to premiumisation but rather showed consumers something different, a personality!The Newcastle working class are known for their direct no-nonsense attitude and their beer, so this is what they are selling. Newcastle brown ale is brutally honest and unapologetic for its size. Show your customers some genuine personality, build your brands persona and you will position yourself very well against the competition who seem unoriginal, and generic in comparison.
3. Be Authentic and original
In an age where Consumers on some level know beer companies are spewing half-truths and falsehoods that promise us a ‘the girl’ a great night out and all the fame and glory that comes with it, brands that are actually authentic are positioned brilliantly against the competition. Authenticity is a great vehicle to communicate emotion and Guinness has utilized this better than anyone through story telling narrative. Good stories are engaging, emotional, memorable, easy to retell, have a plot, ,an element of suspense and the product plays a significant role in the story.
Big beer brands are suffering because they tried to be all things to all people and spread themselves so thin that now their brands identity is slowly being torn apart. AdAge has reported for one four-week period in the spring, sales of ubiquitous brands like Bud Light, Budweiser, and Miller Lite volume decrease in sales by 6%-9% per anum . In order to turn the tide big beer needs to redefine itself while keeping in line with what brought them to success in the past. Any Ideas?
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