Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Using discounting as a positioning strategy instantly
erodes the element of this beer being a premium beer.

Premium = exclusive. Exclusive = expensive.

There is also the issue of intrinsic value. What does it say about the drinker when they're drinking blonde beer?

Before you go any farther you might want to look back: who bought this beer, when, at what price points? When
did sales begin to slide? What other beers were being introduced or newly marketed at that time and over what period and how did the sales of those brands impact the sales of your brand?

Here's another thought: How does the HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Café) channel fit in with the ideal
persona of your idea buyer?

If you're ideal buyer is a drinker of Dos Equis, that
person is less likely to be seen (or to see themselves)
in the HORECA environment—they're more likely to
see themselves in exclusive night clubs and on exotic beaches.

The problem could therefore lie in where you're targeting
your message and who within that niche is listening.

Are you matching the appropriate positioning message
to the kind of beer drinker most willing to listen to it and to therefore associate themselves with it in order to accept it?

Are all the parts of the message properly aligned with
the ears of those people most likely to listen to it?

It's the association of the acquired traits and qualities that drinking the beer bring about or imply that people buy in premium brands, NOT the product.

Dear A,

I teach marketing at the University of Antwerpen and work for a Brussels based marketing consultancy (igneos) which has competence in your problem as one of our consultants is a former InBev executive.

The short answer to your question is to identify which OBM (occasion based marketing) activity is needed. Did you diagnose and pin point exactly the root cause via 6 P model (penetration, promotion, place, pack, price, product) which drives your volume share?

To break it down, your volume share is based on the following factors: Penetration x Loyalty x Consumption

We would walk down the drivers behind each factor and pin point what is causing the decline in volume and/ or value share. For example:

Who is not buying anymore? Why? When are they not buying? In store, on the road, in the pub, at dinner,...?
Is it loss of brand love?
Is awareness? What is your ABC score?
Is it distribution? Pack? Shelf? POS?
Price: What is price perception over relative price index?
What is price sensitivity (elasticity)? Does a promotion make sense? Can you even make an impact or do you need to get creative?
Product : Are expectations met? How is satisfaction?
...and so on.

Then and only then we would recommend an initiative depending on budget, brand persona and problem.

It would be a total speculation and waste of your time and money to make a recommendation here without knowing exactly what is the driver behind your problem.

I can offer you to have a free talk about your issue.

You can find me Thorsten Strauss online via LinkedIn (where you have the link to the company) or google Igneos Brussels.

It sounds like you need to reinvigorate your brand, and consumer interest in the brand. Even though your brand is strong, the downward slide and the aggressive competitors are the actionable signals.

It's time for an engaging social media campaign, which you can begin and test for the last few weeks of this year and accelerate early next year when the bigger budget kicks in, and you've learned which elements of the campaign have the most favorable return on investment.

Here are some thoughts for you in developing this path:

1. Choose a strategy that engages customers by making your product the hip (as defined by your target customer) beverage of choice, and that defines the expression of this knowledge as buying/drinking your beer.

2. Consider a theme that includes a popular figure, a strongly held value, or a viral idea. Equate each beer with a vote or expression of belonging to that figure, value or idea. Remember that humor is often what makes such themes viral.

3. Build your campaign to be circulated on Facebook, Twitter, and email, and if possible, make the theme do something interactive when clicked on a cell phone. For example, show a humorous short video (a few seconds), show an Angry Bird chugging your brew, or flash an over-the-top personal compliment at the person who clicks ("OMG, you're SO attractive!") -- to give a pay-off for engaging.

4. Let customers build up points or rewards if they send or post a photo of themselves with your beer from a hotel, restaurant or cafe. (Maybe one point for each person and each bottle of beer in the photo. This will give you numerous photos showing large numbers of people enjoying your beer, underscoring the popularity idea.) Collect their cell phone numbers as you do this so you can later (in a future campaign) alert them if they're near a cafe that serves your beer.

5. If you personally don't have the skills, team or resources to ignite a social media campaign, then find an able, hungry, young marketing agency in your area who can take on the task for you, and is capable of feeding results into your company's Facebook page and customer information management system. However you implement this, make sure you get analytic metrics on a daily basis so you can adjust your campaign right away for best results, and so that you can report favorable progress immediately to those who control a potentially bigger budget for you.

6. Consider a separate, but companion, campaign for those who operate the hotels, restaurants and cafes in your distribution areas, so they are encouraged to recommend your beer to their patrons, and to display your point-of-purchase materials on tables and in windows, and to increase their orders.

Taken altogether, this will regain and surpass the position that has been eroded by your aggressive competitors.

Hope these ideas help you formulate a meaninful, productive social media campaign for fast results.

Good luck with your efforts.