Strategic Brand Management

Case: Mountain Man Brewing Company

Diptanu Das (0021/55)

Consumer Perception:
“Mountain Man Light? Come on, I’m not interested in light beer. Just
don’t mess with Mountain Man Lager.” - Consumer (Age 50+ years).
“Fancy barbeque parties, with puppies running around…. What do
they have to do with Mountain Man?” - Consumer (Age 30+ years).
Statements mentioned above show consumer’s perception of
the brand. From consumer’s point of view, Mountain Man Lager is
an old school, strong, distinctively bitter flavored beer with higher
alcohol content, making it unique to consumers and creating POD
from other brewed beers. Because of this unique perception of
quality, Mountain Man has cultivated brand loyalty and has a
strong consumer base.

Consumer Profile:
Mountain Man Lager’s core drinkers are blue-collar, middle-to-
lower income men over age 45. Around 81% of its consumers are
male, 64% are 45+ years old, and 72% has income <$75K.

Brand Success Factors:

1. The primary reason for the success of the brand is the awareness with blue-collar consumers. The
audience of West Virginia has rated Mountain Man lager as the best-known regional beer with a 67%
response rate. It won the “Best Beer in West Virginia” & the “America’s Championship Lager”.
2. Mountain Man Lager’s distinctively bitter flavor and higher alcohol content made it distinct from its
competitors and gave it an advantage over them, uniquely contributing to its brand equity.
3. MMBC’s core value lies with the working class, blue-collar consumers. It was packaged in a brown bottle,
with its original 1925 design of a crew of coal miners painted on the front. By holding on to their core
values, MMBC never alienates existing customers and erode core brand equity.
4. MMBC sales force focuses on getting off-premise locations. Blue-collar males purchased 60% of the beer
they drank at off-premise locations. Off-premise consumption caused 70% of MMBC’s sales.
5. MMBC relied on its history and its status as an independent, family-owned brewery to create an aura of
authenticity and to position the beer with its core drinkers.

Mountain Man Light Launch:

Pros Cons
1. It can leverage the existing core brand name. 1. It can alienate existing customers & erode brand equity.
2. It can attract younger beer drinkers of age 21-35 years. 2. It may cannibalize the sales of Mountain Man Lager.
3. It will diversify the current brand portfolio. 3. MMBC will be competing against deep-pocketed competitors.
4. It can target and attract the female customer segment. 4. It will drastically increase the advertising & production cost.