He Marketing MIX for Labatt Seasonal Beer - Essay Example

4. Marketing Mix) (4 Summary) In this section I will discuss the marketing mix for Labatt Seasonal Beer. This seasonal beer will be sold specifically during the fall when various social and sports events are occurring within the Northeastern parts of the United States and parts of Canada. There are various promotions and marketing tactics that will be used to ensure that the product is placed in areas that allow for maximum profit and sales. The goal of this seasonal beer is to create a demand for the beer year round which will potentially lead to the development of more seasonal beers. In terms of the short term strategy, the goal is to achieve a great frequency and reach with the advertising campaigns that not only targets our ideal consumers, but converts them from their traditional beer choices to at least try our product once. The key here will be marketing the fact that it is a seasonal beer that can only be accessed during a short period. This is manifested in our slogan, “Make fall last longer.” This slogan will be coupled along side of other statements such as “Make fall taste better,” and “A bottle made for Autumn.” (4.2 Product) Our product is a Seasonal Brew that is capable of capturing a large part of the domestic beer market. The beer taste significantly different from most domestic brands which makes it a unique product. Moreover, the most likely direct competition for this brew will be posed by Sam Adams “Boston Lager” which is also a seasonal brand that makes it appearance during the fall. While beer drinkers tend to have a default beer selection, it is our intention to leverage a marketing campaign that advertises the unique taste of our beer as well as the exclusivity of it. Since our product is only sold in 6 packs our goal is to target retailers in order to maximize their profit from the distribution of our product due to the fact that it is priced just above some of the more nationalized competitors such as Budwieser and BudLight. (4.3 Place) We intend to distribute this beer specifically in New York, New Jersey and the easter parts of Canada that border those states. This region has a very dense population and is easily accessible in terms of advertising opportunities. There are many events and sponsorship opportunities in this area which makes it a primary market for the introduction of a new seasonal beer. Moreover, there are several professional sports teams located in this area which means there are a lot of opportunities to sell massive quantities at singular events. (4.4 Price) As indicated earlier in the problem definition, competition within the beer industry is growing. Therefore the introduction of a new beer means that we will be met with several entry barriers. In order to overcome many of these barriers we intend to keep the price as low as possible. We anticipate pricing the beer around $1.50 per bottle. This is critical to competing with the leading brands in the market. Since it is expected that the leading brands are known to be cheaper, our strategy is not to produce the cheapest beer on the market. In fact, this may be counter-intuitive to the production of a seasonal lager. Consumers should expect to pay more for a better beer. Moreover, we found that individuals more willing to try our beer are the beer connoisseurs. This means that they are willing to pay a little more for a better beer. Additionally, since our beer is only sold in 6 packs we anticipate that we will remain competitive by having our product priced right around $10 for consumers. This means that we will be able to remain competitive by having a modestly cheap beer that consumers enjoy. (4.5) Promotion Our promotional strategy will be event driven. We anticipate that our beers will be sold at events and therefore we will invest in point of purchase marketing. We will attempt to place stands in stores and at events that promote our beer. Consumers are cluttered with a plethora of choices when shopping for beer which means that our point of purchase marketing strategy may have a leg to stand on. For example, we will place banners in sports stadiums by vendors who are selling our products. Moreover, free product giveaways such as coasters, cups, and cozies will help market our products and encourage consumers to purchase. Maintaing brand awareness during the fall season will be key to ensuring that consumers immediately recognize our beer brand when attempting to make a purchase decision. Our goal will to attempt to identify where our competitors such as Sam Adams are advertising most heavily and attempt to engage in counter advertising. This will help us by placing our brand alongside of already recognizable brands and hopefully consumers will associate our brand with the competitors and consequentially grant our brand more legitimacy. (4.6 Packaging) Our beer will only be sold in 6 packs directly to retailers or in single bottles at sporting events. Since we are delivering a high end product, our goal is to develop a label that reflects the importance of our brand. Our package is directly reflective of the product that consumer anticipate tasting therefore our goal is to use fall colors on the package but in a method that stands out. We will consult marketing firms to identify what the best colors are for the packing that entice consumers to purchase our product. (4.7 Distribution) Our product will be sold either by six pack or single bottle pending on the venue. We intend to place our beer in local bars that attract a more sophisticated audience. This is necessary because our beer is a high end product. Additionally we will place our beer in gas stations that are in high income areas due to the fact that our target consumers are clustered in those communities and hence most likely to use such stores. Moreover, we will target professional events and concerts for the distribution of our beer. If there is a problem getting our beer on the product stand we will leverage our marketing budget to get our beer placed. This is an effective strategy because we get both the point of purchase marketing as well as the beer distributed. (4.8 Slogan) Our slogan is “Make Fall Last Longer!” This slogan is representative of the seasonal component of the beer and will be leveraged to induce feelings of nostalgia when engaging in campaigns that require the use of the “theatre of the mind” i.e. radio. (4.9 Media) In terms of the media that will be used for this campaign, our goal is to receive the maximum amount of frequency possible while target high earning consumers within our designated markets. First we will develop a T.V. commercial that will be promoted both online and on T.V. this dual promotion of the commercial will be beneficial because it helps us achieve a desirable frequency of 3 or greater. T.V. becomes especially important during games for individuals who are drinking in bars where our product is sold. Therefore we will attempt to buy advertising space on sports channels on game day while target bar districts. Moreover, we will produce a radio ad and place on radio station formats whose demographics match our target market. Finally, facebook provides a very cheap and inexpensive method for targeting users with ads. We will utilize their ad platform to promote our beer. By diversifying our media presence we can achieve a desirable frequency that gives our marketing strategy a higher probability of activating consumers to purchase our product. Read More