For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
MARKETING A NEW BEER.
Term Paper ID:18201
Essay Subject:
Plan for fictional 'Gusto' beer. Name selection, market targeting, demographics, cost & pricing, plant location, advertising & promotion.... More...
10 Pages / 2250 Words
5 sources, 9 Citations,
TURABIAN Format
$40.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Plan for fictional 'Gusto' beer. Name selection, market targeting, demographics, cost & pricing, plant location, advertising & promotion.
Paper Introduction:
Executive Summary:
The following marketing plan outlines the marketing requirements for a new beer, called "Gusto," which is to be marketed regionally in competition with both "microbrewery" beers and major commercial beers. "Gusto" must be established in an intensely competitive marketplace, effected by market concentration, changing demographics, and evolving consumer and public attitudes. This marketing plan will consider the aspects of name selection, market targeting, demographics, cost and pricing, plant location, and advertising and promotion, among others.
The Marketing Strategy:
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
It does NOTappeal to the lite or low-alcohol beer drinker. Thebeer drinking habits of the heaviest beer drinkers, working class "redneck"and minority-group males, are perhaps less effected by popular healthtrends. Gusto is tobe, in a practical sense, the generic brand of high-quality beers. It is perhaps worthnoting that possibly exaggerated attention is paid to the beer-drinkinghabits of the middle class, the yuppies and quasi-yuppies who are thelikeliest patrons of brew-pubs or premium-priced Anchor Steam Beer. One such was Anheuser-Busch's reduced-alcohol "LA" ________ 2Ibid. Economy inproduction and distribution is to be a major goal, to allow a product ofmaximum quality to be offered at a popular price. Or to pick up a decent sixpack for adecent price. Sheth and S. It is fair to say that in some ways the "war on drugs" hasnow expanded to take in legal substances such as alcohol and tobaccoproducts. One target group we will not single out is the heavy beer drinker. The qualities we associate with Gusto beer can be broken down into twocategories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. It is geographically compact; in spite offreeway congestion over ten million consumers are still located within aone-day, round trip drive from a central distribution point. As these simple examples show, the general market position of Gustoimmediately suggests some natural lines along with specific advertisingideas can be developed. This marketing plan will consider the aspects of nameselection, market targeting, demographics, cost and pricing, plantlocation, and advertising and promotion, among others.The Marketing Strategy: -- NATURE OF THE INDUSTRY: Americans have been drinking beer sincethe earliest colonial days. It is straightforward, affordable, no-nonsense Gusto beer.Available at your corner bar or stop & shop. -- THE PRODUCT: This development in public tastes offers thepossibility of a market niche which has not yet been met by any majorbrewer: for a popular-priced brand of strong, basic brew, pre-ProhibitionAmerican-style beer, NOT reduced in calories or alcohol content (but notexcessive in these either, but full in flavor and traditional. Ram. Asa practical matter, these drinkers, who often drink to excess, make up asubstantial proportion of the entire beer market. -- ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION: The fundamental character of theadvertising and promotional tactics to be employed are inherent in themarket-positioning strategy for Gusto that was outlined above. These developments offer new opportunities to beer markers, but alsonew challenges. He doesn't really want to pay extra forpremium beer all the time any more, but wants a fuller, more substantialbeer than most of the mass-market products that are available everywhere.This beer drinker could be a beer connossieur if he wished, but he reallyjust wants a good beer to drink. We see that the trendy and expensive "nouvelle" restaurantsof the 198 s are giving way to diners, or Mexican or Chinese. Apart from direct-to-consumer advertising, promotional efforts willhave to be mounted to ensure that the product is available in stores whencustomers go looking for it. The regular beer drinker also willappreciate its full taste and standard alcohol content. Another social trend does not effect the nature of the consumingmarket, but has an important bearing on how beer is advertised. Bizzell,BusinessStrategy and Policy, 2nd ed (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988), 523. For example, we mightmake the point that one Gusto is lower in calories and alcohol content thantwo lite beers, but is twice as satisfying." The second quality associated with Gusto is simplicity andstraightforwardness. It appeals to the desire for taste withoutpretense. LaGanga, "Anheuser-Busch Puts Stopper in Reduced-Alcohol LABeer," Los Angeles Times (May 26, 199 ), D-1, c. One alcoholic beverage has advertised itself with justthat slogan. However, it DOES have apotential appeal to the MODERATE beer drinker, the person who will onlydrink one beer, but wants that one to be satisfying. 9Least Heat Moon, 77-79ff. Chicago's most popular beers were in large partmidwestern, and considerably different in brand (if not in character) fromthe most popular beers in Los Angeles. A good beerwith a burger and fries or a pizza. He simply wants a decent beer at a decentprice, and isn't embarrassed to order the same beer that his blue-collarneighbor is drinking. Put briefly, the public hasbecome much more concerned about the health and social effects of alcoholand drinking. From these key characteristics emerge the majorelements of the marketing, pricing, and distribution decisions. Besides the immediate ethicalresponsibilities of the marketer of an alcoholic beverage, it should beclear that identification of a beer as a drunks' beer would be disasterousfor its image, making it the beer equivalent of skid-row wines, avoided byall but a limited, bottom-of-the-market clientele. This isthe public's shifting attitude toward alcohol use. Ouradvertising campaign will be specifically targeted to the core market ofpractical-minded quality beer drinkers, and promotional material will bedesigned to reach them. We will reach this customer by stripping away everything about beerbut its essential beer-ness. It is a mass market product in which "adistinctive product is not enough."8 Let local products with a strongidentity, such as Anchor Steam Beer in San Francisco, can competesuccessfully.9 People are more careful of how much they drink. What Comes Next? Since that time, the beer industry has gonethrough many changes in terms of both production and consumption patterns.Prohibition disrupted the tradition of beer production and use in theUnited States, and had lasting effects on beer tastes: the bland tasteassociated with popular mass-market American beers, as opposed to foreignpremium beers, has been traced to the effects of Prohibition.1 By the 197 s and 198 s, post-Prohibition beer-drinking habits andtastes began to change. Why choose such a simple, unsuble name for thisnew product? Finally, a major internal influence on the beer industry has been therise of economic concentration. (Nor, for that matter, is the blue-collar workersembarrassed to drink the same beer as a white-collar professional.) Indeed, the broad reach of Gusto's market is a deliberate element inits image. 2.William Least Heat Moon. Its appeal, besides spanningclass and ethnic lines, will also be to a broad spectrum of beer drinkers.The light or occasional drinker knows that if he has a Gusto, he'll havehad a real beer, not a pale imitation. Our principalfirst distribution targets will be suburban liquor and convenience stores.This is where beer drinkers most often go for an impulse beer. A true tavern culture does not exist there, as in someEastern cities, so availability in bars is not a major factor inintroducing a new beer.Conclusion: The above marketing report has briefly outlined some of the majorconsiderations faced in the introduction of a new product, "Gusto" beer,into the marketplace. 3"A new taste for 'brewpubs'." Newsweek, 1 9 (February 9, 1987), p.49. It hasperhaps reached the point at which a full-blooded guy would rather reachfor a no-alcohol brew that a certain import cachet instead of a merely low-alcohol mass market beer. Ram, Bringing Innovations to Market (NewYork: John Wiley and Sons, 1987), 7-1 . Roberto, Social Marketing (New York:Free Press, 1989), 196. Arnold; and Bobby G. Life is tooshort and too expensive for that. SouthernCalifornia is also a single television market (though an expensive one). It is possible to note that a recent counter-trend: thereturn to basics. Finally, Southern California remains a centerfrom which popular trends and tastes tend to radiate. To the popularity ofpremium imports, now well-established, two related trends were added in the198 s. Evensuccessful consumers with incomes well above average are feeling the creditpinch, and are looking for more affordable quality, which they associatewith the strong, the traditional, the straightforward.________ 7 Garry D. The middle class beer drinker is thus no longer so interested in usingthe beer he buys to advertise to others his internationalism andinternational-scaled wallet. But when they dodrink, they are likely to want a more potent product. LaGanga. Bringing Innovations to Market. Arnold, and Bobby G. The broad class rangeof appeal is based on the argument that the "back to basics" movement marksin part a return of Baby Boom generation parents back to the traditionalattitudes and values they rebelled against in the 196 s. We might, for example, show two attractive,successful-type couples having burgers in a neo-traditional diner andordering Gusto instead of imports. Bibliography"A new taste for 'brewpubs'." Newsweek, 1 9 (February 9, 1987): 49.Sheth, Jagdish N., and S. Smith, Danny R. Bizzell. It is a good, simple beer. As recently as 197 , the beer industry wasa regional industry. For Gusto, this core group is the middle class (skilled blue collarto professional) male, thirtysomething or thereabouts, who likes good beerbut is tired of all the gimmicks. Gusto is designed to appeal to the beer drinker who wants an honest,inexpensive, quality beer. Part of this changing attitude, having a strong direct impact ontrends and tastes in beer consumption, has to do with the public's risingconcern about health.4 This has been a driving force behind the appearanceof "lite" beers. We then offer him that cold beer, free of all thecomplications and frills acquired through the years. And you want to payfor a beer, not for a fancy import or fake "local" label. The location of pilot production facilities can be determined freely,within the constraint that it be accessible to Southern Californiadistribution. Under "good," its chief qualitiesare full taste and full (but not excessive) alcohol content. Several reasons lie behind thischoice. This return doesnot necessarily take the form of an overt conversion to traditionalism asan ideology -- old-time radicals do not all not become Republican businessowners -- but a seeking for comfortable, traditional-feeling surroundingsin life. Quite a different set of changing social trends regard attitudestowards beer and other alcoholic beverages. 6Philip Kotler and Eduardo L. The "gourmet" movement brought about a sharp risein the popularity of premium-quality imported beers such as Heineken, beersricher in taste than mass-market American beers. You drink itbecause when you drink a beer, you want a good one. ________ 1 William Least Heat Moon. In theSouthern California marketing environment, marketing to bars will play asecondary role. We here not speaking here, it should be noted, of a "test market;"that will be left to the test marketers to determine as required. Trying to sell Gustoas a "Southern California beer" would not work, there or anywhere else, butfor Gusto to be known as a beer that Southern Californians drink would nothurt it. A beer you only need one of. NewYork: John Wiley and Sons, 1987.Maria L. Business Strategy and Policy, 2nd ed. This willgreatly simplify the mechanics of production and distribution. It is probably that the brewery would itself be in SouthernCalifornia, probably in an outlying area. Their tastes run fromthe cheap to the expensive, and it must be assumed that Gusto will attracta significant number of such consumers. Moreover, unlike the Northeastern or Midwestern urban conglomerations,Southern California is -- away from the Hollywood glitz -- still largelytypical suburban America. Anti-drinking ads areincreasingly common and increasingly sophisticated; e.g., one has performerStevie Wonder, well-known for his blindness, saying that he would ratherdrive himself than drive with a drinker.6 "Social marketing" messages havebecome increasingly important to the brewers themselves, who now use theiradvertising to promote "responsible" styles of drinking. -- DEMOGRAPHICS AND TARGETING: The target market for Gusto is theworking- to upper-middle class American aged 21-45. 8Sheth and Ram, 46-47. National consolidation andconcentration of the industry appeared in the 197 s and 198 s, so thatamong them, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Stroh, and Heileman accounted for________ 5Maria L. In the case of Gusto beer, ithas been noted that the beer market is evolving, and being shaped by widersocial trends. But it cannot be ruled out thatfor environmental or tax reasons it might be most practical to locate thebrewery plant in Arizona or Nevada, again giving one-day round trip brewerytruck travel between the plant and a distribution center located towardsthe eastward part of the Southern California urban area. beer, which was introduced in 1984,and suffered steadily declining sales until withdrawn in early 199 .5 Inthis particular case, LA beer was "squeezed" between full-alcohol litebeers on the one hand, and the no-alcohol beers on the other. Gusto appeals to the drinker who appreciatesexcellent beer, but knows that it costs, and wants a popular-priced goodbeer for daily quaffing. -- PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION: Gusto is eventually slated fornationwide distribution by its maker, one of the "major" brewery firmslisted earlier. "A Glass of Handmade." Atlantic, 26 (November, 1987): 75-79+.One was the appearance of "handmade" beers, produced on a smallscale by "microbreweries," and marketed locally.2 Closely related to therise of handmade beers is the appearance of "brewpubs," specialty shopswhich serve such beers, their own or those of local microbreweries.3 Thus,in general, there is a wider range of tastes in beer in recent years thanthere generally was in the past. "Anheuser-Busch Puts Stopper in Reduced-Alcohol LABeer." Los Angeles Times (May 26, 199 ), D-1, c. It will be introduced regionally, however, beginning inthe Southern California metropolitan area. That is the key question in marketing a newconsumer product. The essential feature of the marketing plan isestablishing the character of a changing marketplace, and defining theplace of the product in that marketplace. They should not be encouragedthrough Gusto's advertising, and Gusto must make every effort to avoidbeing associated with misuse of alcohol. It is specifically not a "lite" product, but appeals to thepublic's interest in moderation by offering a smaller quantity of a moresatisfying product. Because Gusto is a simple, unsubtle product. eighty percent of the total market.7 In the early 199 s, then, we find the beer industry shaped by avariety of social forces. Although the range of the overall target market for Gusto isdeliberately very broad, any new product should have some central coregroup of consumers for whom it has particular appeal, and from whom thepattern of consumption will spread to a broader market. "Remember how a good old fashioned cold beertasted that first summer, long ago?" This will be our theme, the basicquestion we ask him. Some beers which seemed promising responses to the newpublic attitude have fallen flat in practice. More specific advertising ideas can be developedby the ad agency from these concepts and from detailed study of the coretarget market. Closely related is the rising popularity of "no-alcohol"beers such as Kaliber, which are now viewed as healthier than ordinarybeer, rather than as fussy or abstemious. Executive Summary: The following marketing plan outlines the marketing requirements for anew beer, called "Gusto," which is to be marketed regionally in competitionwith both "microbrewery" beers and major commercial beers. Southern California is a major market, some five percent of theentire nation's population. One such trend is "back to basics," a yearning for simpler,more honest and straightforward, less pretentious life styles and products. 2. "Gusto" must beestablished in an intensely competitive marketplace, effected by marketconcentration, changing demographics, and evolving consumer and publicattitudes. Instead,Southern California is to be the "pilot market," the region in which large-scale marketing and distribution are introduced. 4Jagdish N. This is Gusto beer. "A Glass of Handmade." Atlantic, 26 (November, 1987): 75-79+.Smith, Garry D.; Danny R. Obtaining shelf space in today's crowdedmarketplace is a major marketing challenge in its own right.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject