Has the “Most Interesting Man in the World” crashed CORONA’s beach party?

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Marketing Management

May 29, 2010

The ongoing hard fought battle in the US between Mexican beer brewed rivals CORONA and DOS EQUIS (XX) has turned the tide and now DOS EQUIS has a 51 to 49 advantage over CORONA. We define success not simply by who is the biggest or who sales the most, but also with who is taking the correct strategic steps to grow faster and increase their domestic beer market share.

Beer is one of the world's oldest and most popular beverages with the history of beer dating back to the 6th millennium BC, and being recorded in the written history of Ancient Iraq. It is a product which people tend to differentiate by four primary reasons – taste, availability, price and/or marketing message. It is by no means a true commodity but a singular object in which accessibility and availability is key to use. If price is not a factor, for most beer drinkers it is an instant decision – they either stick to one beer or select one randomly from a list of names they enjoy.

Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. More than 35 billion gallons are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion in 2009. In the US approximately $101 billion for 6.5 billion+ gallons of beer was sold in 2009. Overall, US beer sales were down 2.2% in 2009 while imported beer sales were down 9.8% in 2009, equating to a loss of 2.8 million barrels.

High priced imports such as CORONA, owned by Grupo Modelo, have been hit hard these past few years in this ~$26B a year revenue generating industry. According to Beer