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Mountain Man Beer Case Study

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Mountain Man Brewing Company
Mountain Man Brewing Company (MMBC) also known as “West Virginia’s Beer”. MMBC developed its brand equity as a symbol of toughness, authenticity, quality and uniqueness this with several other factors made MMBC successful. This legacy was started by Guntar Prangel in 1925 when he reformulated an old family recipe with quality ingredients. Brand Equity is defined as the $$$$ value contained in a specific brand. High alcohol content that appealed to the blue collar market along with these specific factors added to MMBC brand. It caters to regional tastes (dark, bitter). MMBC also has class cachet (it’s a miner’s beer) it’s family-owned, it’s perceived as being high-quality and it’s a legacy product. People seem to drink Mountain Man as a way to connect with past generations of their family. Brand played a critical role in beer purchasing decision. The promotion of MMBC was done by accentuating its dark color by packaging it in a brown bottle, with its original 1925 design of a crew of coal miners printed on the front. Mountain Man Lager was priced similarly to premium domestic brands such as Miller and Budweiser but below specialty brands such as Sam Adams. MMBC used its own sales force to focus on off-premise locations (liquor stores or supermarkets) with much success. Blue collar males purchased 60% of the beer they drank at these off-premise locations. The decline in MMBC was due to changes in beer drinkers preferences. This decline was happening across the whole United States to the traditional premium beer category at an annual rate of 4%.
I believe Mountain Man should introduce a light beer to make up for the loss of sales. The introduction into the market should be done with soft marketing in the core area that Mountain Man Lager is the strongest, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. I am recommending MMBC

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