Marketing Strategies of Bervet Beer Company - Assignment Example

? BERVET Beer Company Marketing Strategies BERVET Beer Company Executive Summary The Bervet Beer Company’s history can essentially be traced back to the year 2000 when a scientist helped to invent the company. Since then the company has managed to successfully grow in leaps to emerge as a successful company whose logo is found to be quite distinct in Africa. The company first sold its beer at a lodge that happened to have been located near the company’s factory in May 2000. The company’s humble beginning can be exemplified in the fact that only 60 dollars was used in the company’s expansion process during its first years, a factor that caused the company to mainly operate at a loss for that first year. However, by the year 2006, Bervet Beer Company had managed to establish itself among the most popular beer companies operating in the African region (Smit, 2009). Company Introduction The beer company’s main headquarters are found to be primarily based in Lusaka, Zambia where they are hosted in a large firm. The firm has grown to establish a myriad of structures and facilities in various regions around the world. Bervet Beer Company has managed to set up operations in about seven different countries that are seen to mainly be concentrated in the northwest. The Bervet Company currently owns three manufacturing facilities and an estimated more than twenty five different sales locations. Bervet Beer Company is widely considered to be the largest beer company operating in the northwest region of Africa. The company’s product offering is seen to include a wide range of various beer brands and services that help make it more attractive to the customers. The range of alcoholic drinks that are offered by the company are seen to include a number of beers, low content alcohol beer, wines as well as non-sugar beers. In addition to this, the company offers these drinks in a number of different sizes and packaging. The different sizes include disposable bottles, tins, litter returnable bottles as well as plastic bottles. Some of the more popularly known brands offered by the company include Kiboko, Kegi and Chura. Bervet Beer Company has managed to establish a number of programs and foundations that help it provide assistant in a number of beneficial services to the community. One of these services is seen to include the teaming up of the company with an NGO company called LGC with the aim of providing various health services to the community. Bervet Beer Company is also keen to engage in a number of various corporate initiatives that help to empower both women and girls across the entire African region by providing them with sufficient economic support. Bervet Beer Company also helps provide water and various sanitation services to different people across Africa who might not be in a position that enables them to access the critical sanitation services and water. To further its overall growth agenda, Bervet Beer Company is planning on targeting the European market. The company’s European market segment is seen to include various players such as the private sector, retailers, individual customers, the government as well as wholesalers. One of key strategies that will be employed by Bervet Beer Company to target customers in the European market will be for the company to have specific lines Europe. The company predicts that it will manage to achieve relatively very high sales figures due to the quality and large variety of beer product offering that is made by the company. Another key marketing strategy that will be employed by the company is that the company hopes to open more outlets as well as reduce the price of its beer in the European region. In its marketing strategy, Bervet is currently targeting lodges, bars and big restaurants as possible outlets for its products. Bervet Beer Company’s market plan is seen to aim to ensure that the company provides the best pricing, quantity and quality to its customers. If this plan is successfully executed, it will not only befit the company but also the society in general. The future success of Bervet Beer Company is seen to be mainly reliant on its operation strategy. Bervet Company’s Macro-Environmental Issues There are a number of various essential economic factors that the company expects will affect their products, these include economic trends, taxes as well as the rising prices in the energy sector. Some of the legal factors that the company expects to affect their products includes the regulations and legislation that govern the operations of the company as well as a number of government initiatives. If the government happens to implement any policies designed to try and control the business, this might also have a number of adverse consequences on the company. The company is also prone to a number of environmental factors that might negatively affect the company, however, most of these environmental factors such as floods, fires and earthquakes are uncontrollable. Bervet Beer Company’s local marketing strategy is essentially to try and listen to the various voices of its customers; these tastes are found to be largely varied across different occasions and tastes. Bervet Beer believes that it is these different preferences and tastes that fundamentally helps define who these customers are, where they choose to relax as well as how they live (Smit, 2007). By sufficiently identifying the various factors that might potentially affect the company’s products, the company will incorporate this information in formulating the strategies that will be involved in the product’s distribution, price and promotion. Brevet Beer Company must ensure that it comes up with a number of strategies that will aid in maximizing its profits, the maximization of its current revenue as well as the maximization of its quality, quantity and profit margin. Some of the other key factors that the company hopes to improve on include its status quo, sustained quality leadership and company survival (Smit, 2009). By employing a marketing strategy that will see the company offer various discounts to its customers, Bervet Beer Company will potentially be able to encourage most of the customers to proceed to buy more of the company’s products. To enhance its image, the company must also ensure that its Logo is caused to be one of the most recognizable symbols within its target markets. Bervet hopes to be able to achieve its promotion strategy by using both personal selling and advertising. Extensively marketing of the company’s products in magazines, over the internet as well as on television will help the company manage to reach a larger number of customers in its European region market. Bervet Beer Company also plans to employ the services of a number of knowledgeable and young sales representatives that have been well trained in both product information as well as customer services so as to effectively help in promoting the company’s products in the European Market Iacobucci, 2013). Bervet Beer Company also hopes further boost its European region distribution plans by entering into a contract with a shipping company. However, it is critical for the company to first ensure that it first establishes a number of independent and destination stores that primarily be located within some of the major cities in the continent. Bervet Beer believes that this plan will serve to greatly aid its beer distribution to its targeted customers. Bervet Beer Company’s product distribution plans has seen it develop and implement a strategic market segmentation strategy that will help it meet the distinct needs of its customers across the world. The company has successfully managed to develop over 200 different product lines for its consumers. To better satisfy the needs of its customers, Bervet’s market segmentation strategy has seen the company segment its customers based on their lifestyles, age groups and ethnic groups. The company has also successfully managed to divide its customers into a number of various geographic segmentations. This has helped it improve the efficiently with which it is able to meet the needs of the customers who happen to essentially be located at various different locations and have different preferences during the different seasons. The Demographic segmentation is seen to be based on an individual’s income earning, gender and age while the psychographics segmentation is designed to target individual’s who might be brand conscious (Iacobucci, 2013). Bervet Alcohol and Beer Company’s Mission Statement Bervet produces a range of high quality alcoholic products and has a vision of becoming the leading brewery company in Africa by 2015. The company is now mainly focused on ensuring that it retains its current customers in an effort to expand the company’s mission. Bervet is therefore committed to winning its customers’ loyalty to the range of Bervet products forever. Bervet Alcohol and Beer Branding, Pricing and Distribution Plan Branding Bervet Beer Company’s main target segment is seen to not only include the beer products end users but also the distributors, wholesalers and the various distribution channels that are offered by restaurants and pubs. However, the beer products end users, is perceived to be the most important target. Branding should essentially be designed to help leave a rather long-lasting impression on all consumers. Branding is seen to involve a number of aspects such as the company’s logo, its website, its tagline, promotional material and the tagline. It is vital that the main underlying message that is passed through all these media is seen to be largely consistent mainly because the brand essentially carries a promise. Bervet Beer and Alcohol Differentiation Strategy Brand differentiation is seen to commonly occur through a number of different variables (Mitchell and Amioku, 1985). Based on the brand’s psychographic variables, Bervet has noted as offering a drink that is touted as not only satisfying the need for one to essentially quench tier own thirst but is also basically a lifestyle beverage. As such, Bervet should generally be promoted as being a drink that stirs imagination. Bervet company’s main tagline for its brand should be “We love to see you live” or “Drink fresh; Life!” If fashioned in this manner, the tagline will help attract people who may desire to live and not to just exist! Due to the fact that brands are primarily sold though feelings, the Bervet brand should be able to create a rather strong emotional link existing between the company’s customers and its brand (Moorthi, 2004). The Bervet Beer Company’s logo should be designed in a manner that it is perceived to be not only trendy but also futuristic in addition to carrying the main flavour of the new age. The brand should be able to feature in all points of communication. Due to the fact that most of the more popular beer brands in Europe have essentially been selling for a very long time period, it will be beneficial if Bervet ensures that it differentiates its product packaging. By undertaking a packaging differentiation strategy, Bervet products will be able to stand out when lined up against other different products on the same shelf at the point of sale. Bervet should use neon colours in their packaging as neon colours are considered to be the first touch point with the customer. Colour is popularly believed to influence emotion and a products first point of interaction is normally shaped by colour. According to Markowitz (2010), an average of about 60-80% of all the purchase decisions that are made by customers are normally found to be primarily based on a product’s main colour. Neon lights are found to be bright and will help the product attract immediate attention. Other than the product’s colour, Bervet Beer Company should also focus on the main container in which its beer products will be sold. Some of the factors that Bervet Beer should consider in selecting its packaging includes; if the beer container can be made from a material that can essentially be used to drink the beer as well, Bervet can also develop a small packaging of its products that will contain one serving of beer, a beer packaging should be able to serve a multi-purpose role in that it will benefit the customer, be deemed to be cost-effective for the company as well as be beneficial to the environment. For Bervet to be able to enhance its branding, the company should implement policies that will help it have relatively strong activity on social media. Bervet should ably capitalize on the fact that most Europeans happen to be sport lovers and if Bervet were to try and sponsor a number of sports, Bervet would be able to greatly enhance its brand value in this European market. With the recent emergence of social media as the most popular promotional tool, the Bervet Beer Company should create a series of short documentaries on sports personalities and then invite a number of online discussions on these documentaries. Bervet Beer should also ensure that the company’s logo and tag line are prominently displayed and included on all the mail that goes viral. Bervet Beer’s tagline should be used as the main point of identification for the brand. Bervet’s branding strategy can also be designed to include causing the brand to become associated with a number of leading pubs and restaurants. The company can also opt to actively participate in a relatively large number of various social events such as Valentine’s Day. The promotional material distributed by the company can also take the form of a number of messages that are made to go viral though the various social media. The social events that the company is actively taking participating as well as the sporting events that it offers to sponsor should be adequately promoted on social media and a number of special beer offers should be made for those customers who will choose to purchase coupons via the social media. Bervet Beer should try and place various promotional brochures at all pubs, local gyms, convenience stores as well as at social clubs. As a market entry strategy, these coupons can be designed to have a limited validity coupon that offers a number of special discounts. As an additional market entry strategy, Bervet can distribute a number of free t-shirts clearly displaying the Bervet tagline and logo upon the purchase of a certain quantity of beer by the customer. Bervet Alcohol and Beer Company as a Market Leader The marketing strategy currently employed by Bervet Company is seen to try and position the company as a market leader in both the African and European markets. This is found to be well in line with the company’s mission statement of growing the company and causing it become the leading company in Africa by the year 2015. Bervet Beer Company’s Pricing Plan Bervet Beer Company’s pricing decisions are seen to include discounts, profit margins as well as the wholesalers and retailers margins. It is important for the company’s pricing decision to be based on competitor pricing and product demand. The beer market is highly concentrated and has relatively very high competition, it is therefore important that in pricing its products, Bervet Beer ensures it considers the competition pricing. Although the pricing of the company’s products can be increased in the event that its brand value increases with time, it is important that the company maintains initial low prices to capture a sizeable market share. The company can also take to offering discounts in the markets which may happen to be closer to the breweries; this is because the transport costs to these locations is very low or negligible. Beer prices within Europe are seen to greatly differ across the different countries and regions. The different variations in prices across these regions can at times be quite considerable. These variations are seen to occur essentially due to the brewer’s innate ability to price discriminate as well as because of different cost variations (EconomicOnline, 2011). It is possible for Bervet Beer to effectively maximize its profit margins by using price discrimination if certain key conditions are met. Bervet Beer should try to identify all the different sub-markets and ensure that it keeps them separate. The use of discriminatory pricing strategies is found to be more effective if a company essentially has a monopoly in each of the given sectors. It is generally not considered to be difficult to implement a proper discriminatory pricing strategy between varied types of consumers ((Iacobucci, 2012). Bervet Beer Company should implement a differential pricing strategy depending on the current season in given location, the different categories of the beer it offers as well as the demand of the company’s products in a given area. To try and enhance the sales of its new products, Bervet Beer Company can undertake to provide several bundled offers. In the event that Bervet is offering a new product in a given market, it can utilize a strategy of providing one free can of the new category of beer on offer upon the actual purchase of a certain given amount of the old product. This strategy will be crucial in boosting the overall sales of both the new and the old product category. Although good pricing is seen to influence the sales of a certain give product, people are generally more attracted by any discounts offered (Penton Publishing, 2006). It is therefore important that Bervet Beer Company ensures that discounts are made a regular feature of its marketing strategy. Bervet Beer can offer discounts during various events and upon the purchase of a certain given number of beer cans. The company can also undertake to distributing various discount coupons that will be bundled with their allied product. However it is important that these coupons have a limited validity. Distribution Distribution is seen to include the logics, market coverage as well as the various services involved. In today’s market, there are a number of new distribution channels such as the internet and mobile phones. Social media has also quickly grown to become a very important distribution channel as well. Due to the importance of consumer preference, Bervet Beer Company’s products should all be made available at points that will be found to be convenient to the customer. In most markets, there are normally an average of about three or even two major distributors or brand houses that between them carry several popular brands. Some markets are structured to enable them to have micro-distributors who are mainly focused on about one or two different brands, in some other markets, there are distributors who are greatly specialized in beer and wine distribution. Most of the distributors in the various markets are seen to offer relatively very high levels of service in addition to being highly competitive. These distributors are seen to have developed excellent contacts that extend to chain stores. Due to the fact that Bervet Beer Company has a large number of different products, the decision on distributor should be made to be selective. The distributors chosen to sell the company’s products should be chosen based on who can essentially be able to cause the company’s products to obtain the best shelf positioning, has the best point of sale material, good sales staff, product knowledge and market knowledge (McCormick, 2012). It is also important that Bervet Beer Company also considers the comfort factor in working with a given distributor. Bervet Beer can also adopt a strategy that will see its beer being distributed though pubs, retail chains, restaurants and convenience stores. Other possible points of sale for Bervet Beer’s products are seen to include clubs and gyms, as such; distributors should be encouraged to make plans with clubs. Convenience stores should be considered to be one of the core channels that will aid in the distribution of beer and hence the Bervet Beer Company should ensure that it dedicates a significant amount of recourse towards helping develop various quality recommendations for the large number of convenience retailers. Employing the use of various creative promotions such as in-store display will potentially serve to help Bervet Beer increase the sale of its products as well as promote the convenience store’s traffic. Technological innovations have made it possible for consumers to now be able to widely shop across a number of multiple channels such as mobile, web and physical stores with equal ease, as well as with enhanced flexibility and convenience (Persaud and Azhar, 2012). Although the physical distribution channels are quite common and relatively easy to deal with, it is important that Bervet Beer focuses on distributing its products via the different online stores and the diverse logistics involved. This is because the fulfilling of online orders can be perceived to be a totally different business from the distribution centres that help serve physical stores (McCurry, 2011). Online stores distribution centres should be located in areas that are seen to have easy access to an interstate highway as well as to some of the major markets. The stores should be made easily accessible to both vendors who will sell the actual end product to the end users as well as the suppliers who will be tasked with delivering goods to these distribution centres. Bervet Beer should ensure that it employed skilled and trained staff to manage the online distribution centres. This is because these stores normally deliver much smaller quantities as compared to the store-focused centres. The online distribution centres are also seen to require much more space as compared to the more traditional distribution centres. It is therefore important that Bervet Beer Company ensures that it adequately utilizes a strategy that involves a mix of both online and store-centred distribution channels. It is important that Bervet Beer ensures that its store-centred distribution centre has proper trained staff, however, this is found to not be as critically important in an online distribution centre as most of the focus for these stores would be on ensuring that they make prompt deliveries. Integrated Marketing Communications and Customer Satisfaction Plan The term Integrated marketing communications (IMC) was originally coined back in the mid 1990s and has since then grown to become internationally known. The general scope of integrated marketing communication has generally been realized by a number of different companies all over the world; however, the term has been differently understood in the various contexts. As such, there exists no rigid definition of the term that can adequately be used to try and explain the company’s utility in the actual context of a company and its marketing activities (Smith, Berry & Pulford, 1999). The process involved in integrated marketing communication (IMC) is found to fundamentally refer to the strategic analysis of implementation, choice and control of all the various elements related to marketing communication in a manner that results in actively influencing the transactions occurring between consumers, potential customers and clients in an efficient, economical and effective manner (Smith, Berry and Pulford, 1999). IMC can simple be defined as the manners in which an organization chooses to control and manage its market communications. IMC ensures that the personality, messages and a company’s brand positioning in a given market is delivered across the different elements of a given market by effectively utilizing a very consistent strategy (Smith, Berry and Pulford, 1999). Bervet Beer can effectively customize each step in this process to ensure that the different products and goods offered by the company fit the bill. Although the general concept behind marketing communications has generally been put to use by companies as an all inclusive concept to help them deal with the different communication levels since the 1990s, the main technique involved in strategically integrating these different diverse functional areas is found to be quite unique to the approach of IMC (FitzGerald, 2000). Bervet Beer should ensure that it develops a single communication strategy that will be used for each target audience that has been identified from the company’s entire market. The basic strategy will be used by the company for the execution of each communication function (Fitzgerald, 2000). Smith, Berry and Pulford (1999) have identified twelve different strategies that companies can use to try and accomplish the process of integrated marketing communications. The strategies that Bervet has chosen to use include: Advertising Strategy: Bervet Beer Company can advertise using a number of different channels. Since the company started its operations, it has used a number of different advertising strategies including print media, bill boards, television commercials, and the sponsoring of different events. However, the company has recently embarked on establishing its online presence. The internet is found to be the most common media form in the developed countries of this region and hence internet advertising is found to be of particularly immense importance for the company’s expansion. The general effectiveness of Bervet Beer Company’s advertising can be measured by judging a set of three basic factors that are normally affected by an advertising campaign; these are reaction, reach to the audience and resonance Minelli, Chambers and Dhiraj, 2012). As reaching the right customers is largely perceived to be the most important responsibility of any given advertising campaign, Bervet Beer can determine the effectiveness of a marketing campaign by measuring the gross rating point (GRP) and the frequency against the demographic target (Valos & Shimp, 2012). Promotional Strategies: Bervet Beer can use a number of promotional strategies to try and achieve its marketing goals. One of the more effective strategies would be for the company to periodically send random push message to a large number of mobile numbers providing information on discounts or offers. This strategy will help the company penetrate in a large market as the use of mobile phones is currently the most preferred form of communication. Other strategies that can be used can involve the sponsoring of online contests, the giving of free samples as well as the sponsoring of various events. Marketing Research Approach: Marketing research is instrumental in helping a company gather crucial information identifying various marketing opportunities as well as in helping the company evaluate and generate various market actions. The data collected by a marketing research can be use in the construction of a customer loyalty measure, as well as an attribute satisfaction measure. These finding can serve to indicate customer satisfaction levels (Cengiz, 2010). Bervet Company’s Competitors, Its Weaknesses and strengths Bervet is seen to face stiff competition from a number of breweries based in Africa such South African Breweries and East African Breweries among the company’s top competitors in Europe includes Heineken and Spaten Brewery. Some of Bervet’s company’s strengths include the company is seen to enjoy easy access to raw material, a factor that helps it minimize its operational costs. Bervet has technologically advanced distribution systems, superior quality products that have greatly helped the company market its products, wide customer base on the African continent that helps boost the company’s sales, high customer satisfaction as well as a reliable and effective management staff. Although largely successful, Bervet Company is seen to be afflicted by a number of weaknesses that include limited marketing expertise as the company is still a new company, low advertising visibility as compared to some of its competitors and the relatively high price of its beer products as compared to most of the other drinks in the market. Addressing Gaps in Customer Expectations Customer expectations are usually not always fulfilled and at times, customers tend to not get enough value against the actual amount of money they pay to obtain a particular service or good. It is important for Bervet Beer Company to ensure that it studies the customer satisfaction levels and carefully identifies the actual specific areas that customers happen to ask for wherever they happen to visit the company website or walk into the stores. Occasional delivery lapses are found to be a very common phenomenon in service sectors (Heinonen, 1997). The Most Significant Trend to Impact the Company One of the most significant trends to impact Bervet is a speedy growth. The speedy growth can be attributed to the aggressive marketing strategy that was employed by the company. The company’s exponential growth can be attributed to the fact that the company considered advertising to be an integral factor for the general success of the product. The aggressive marketing campaign caused the company’s products to be sold all across the continent by the year 2008. Statistics from the year 2010 indicate that the company’s beer products were well loved by the larger majority of the dwellers in both the big cities and small towns and was a common item that was offered in a large number of lodges and bars. However, due to the gradually increasing stiff competition that is seen to be extremely prevalent in the beers industry, the popularity that used to be enjoyed has been decreasing over the year and currently the company’s products are found to be consumed at the average rate of about one billion beers every day. The company is seen to try and capitalize on this growth by planning to grow the company and cause it to become the leading brewery company In Africa by the year 2015. References Cengiz, E. (2010). Measuring customer satisfaction: Must or not? Journal of Naval Science and Engineering, 6(2), 76-88. EconomicsOnline. (2011) Brewing. Available from http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Business_economics/Brewing.html [Accessed May 18, 2013] FitzGerald, M. (2000). Marketing Communications Classics: An International Collection of Classics and Contemporary Papers. Connecticut: Cengage Learning EMEA. Heinonen, J. E. A. (1997). Gap analysis in pubs between customers and workers. 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