Harvard Case Mountain Man Lager Answers
Uploaded by skylars on Nov 18, 2011
1) Mountain Man Lager
Mountain Man Lager, also known as “West Virginia’s Beer, is a symbol of toughness, authenticity, and uniqueness. Despite the association with taste, the Mountain Man Beer Company (MMBC) was also associated with best-in-class quality. Brand equity, followed with substantially high brand awareness and loyalty, is main factor enabling the company to survive in the face of adverse market trends and increased pressure of major national players.
MMBC has strong ties with blue collar, middle to low income men over age 45. These are the core drinker for MMBC, very much loyal over the long period for perceived quality, taste, toughness and availability of the product. In fact, sole brand loyalty of MM Lager is higher than that of Budweiser or Bud Light.
MMBC was wise enough to nurture&capitalize on brand equity. It is earlier efforts to get off-premise locations and effective use of grass-roots marketing and resulting m-o-w secured the company a strong enough distribution and large enough market to compete in. MM lager is sold in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio: impressive for what amounts to a regional specialty brew. In West Virginia, Mountain Man is the market leader. Their lager is rated as the best-known regional beer, and has won “best beer” awards in both West Virginia and Indiana. Mountain Man is an established, 75+-year-old brand with a loyal, if aging blue-collar clientele.
I think main elements of the MMBC brand equity stems from its simplicity; a tough beer for mountain men of East Central America. It has a distinct flavor prepared with a century old recipe. It gives you the taste of interacting with previous generation. One participant says, “My dad drank MM just like my granddad did. They both felt it was as good as you can get anywhere”. As long as this guy remembers his granddad, MM Lager will remain best beer of Virginia for him.
2) Perceptual Map
Map 1: Regional Beer Market Map 2: Regional Light Beer Market
Full-flavor premium market segment on the other has been witnessing decrease in volume, and facing increased cost/marketing pressure from import and big pocket national companies. Latest trends in beer market have virtually eliminated second quadrant; small regional brewers (except high priced specialty beers). Economies of scale and skimming are only viable strategies. In this regard, two types of producers seem to stay profitable; very small/micro brewers and...