Group Assignment

Brand Dossier

A Group Assignment submitted to

Prof. Govindrajan & Prof. Charanpreet

In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the course BM

By

Group 6

Abhishek Kushwaha -1911006

Apoorva Parikh -1911171

Aniket Shrivastva -1911030

Ayush Sharma -1911045

Babu Kumar Ankit -1911050

On

10-10-2020
Brand History

United Breweries holds 52 % of the market share.1 Parent company of Kingfisher, United
breweries was established in 1857 under the name of Castle breweries. It was renamed
to United Breweries in 1915 and started manufacturing beer from the year 1944
under the label Exports Beer. UB group started exporting beer to Middle East from
1974 and in the year 1978 it launched K i n g f i s h e r b r a n d . 2 UBL’s Flagship Brand
‘Kingfisher’ is a widely accepted brand and is one of the strongest players in the Indian Beer

market, in terms of volumes and brand equity. Its positioning has been the same since its
inception, King Of Good Times. The tag line of the brand signifies its contribution in turning
any moment memorable. The brand's marketing initiatives have always been through
associations and sponsorships with sports, fashion and fun events, transforming it into a
lifestyle brand. The only repositioning it did was of its logo which was changed from a sitting
bird to a flying bird during 2003-04. The new logo signals the brand's vision to get to new
heights.

Kingfisher Beer has adopted surrogate marketing to promote its products in India. Kingfisher
uses straddle positioning by providing many product varieties which caters to many segments
e.g. Strong beer for those who want a strong taste, mild premium beer to those who want a
mild taste etc.
Kingfisher has positioned itself as a fun, exciting and sporty brand among the youth.
Kingfisher associates itself with many sporting events, fashion shows, cooking events, music
etc. They especially use surrogate advertising to create brand awareness. So, they promote
music CDs with their brands like Mc Dowell’s music CDs and sodas. The brand sponsors
lifestyle events and the Kingfisher Calendar has attained a cult status since their launch.

1
Annual Report 2019-20, http://unitedbreweries.com/pdf/InvestorReport/Annual_Report_2019-2020.pdf
2
Company website, http://unitedbreweries.com/about-us
The most useful brand elements for Kingfisher that differentiates itself from its competitors
and helps in building brand equity are tagline and its jingle. Kingfisher is associated with
events such as The Great Indian October Fest (Bengaluru). 3 It also sponsors fashion awards,
fashion weeks, individual fashion shows and is the official sponsor for IPL after parties.
When it comes to food, Kingfisher brought out the campaign, ‘Food tastes better with
Kingfisher’.4 It brought out Kingfisher Food Guide and Night Life Guide. Kingfisher
supports all kinds of sports, right from cricket and football to Force India (Formula 1), and
others. The brand has also associated with Mumbai Marathon, Delhi Half Marathon.
However, with IPL emerging as the single biggest sports extravaganza in the country, the
company has targeted the event as its promotion strategy. As a part of its IPL campaign, the
brand had launched a TVC featuring players from the top four teams of IPL – Bangalore
Royal Challengers, Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils. It is a karaoke-
based story line commercial where cricketers come on one platform to give their voices to the
brand’s iconic jingle, ‘Oo la la la’. They are the prime IPL sponsors of the Royal Challengers
team. The company owns the East Bengal football team. It also sponsors the football team of
Goa, GoaFC, in the ISL tournament.

In India, alcohol promotion is prohibited, through television commercials, print ads and
hoardings. The companies look for other ways of communication when it comes to alcohol
promotion. Some methods used by Kingfisher are:
 Surrogate advertising: Mineral water under the brand name Kingfisher to create brand
awareness
 Point-of-sale advertising: Advertising on the back of flight boarding passes by
Kingfisher has increased the brand awareness.
 Promotion of its brand through brand placement in Bollywood films and various
online media. Kingfisher’s association with online entertainment network, The Viral
Fever (TVF) in the Pitchers episode created a hue among beer drinkers, the “tu beer
hai” line became quite viral.

3
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/united-breweries-ready-to-kick-off-its-octoberfest-
in-bangalore-113101800290_1.html
4
https://www.mediainfoline.com/advertising/kingfisher-premium-launches-latest-campaign-food-tastes-
better-with-kingfisher#:~:text=%E2%80%9CFood%20tastes%20better%20with%20Kingfisher,the%20King%20of
%20Good%20Times.
  Kingfisher Ultra under its YouTube channel ‘Cheers’ has reached out to its fans with
its relatable in-house content, in the form of multiple short stories and web series
under the banner of ‘Ultra-Shorts’.
 Attractive packaging and labelling: Labelling used on Kingfisher brand alcohol
 Promotional events (Such as Ladies Nights with unlimited alcohol)
o Publicity events for ladies at high-profile lounges, bars and restaurants
o Happy hours which provides discounted prices or free drinks during certain
hours of the day

The segmentation strategy adopted by the brand are:

 Geographic segmentation: It is available throughout India and is dominant in
particularly in south and west India.
 Demographic Segmentation- The population of youth is high in India. With its
international image as the sponsor of a football team, it has created an impression in
young ones’ mind. The rise indisposable income of the urban middle class is also a
point. Youth: 16 to 25yrs. (kingfisher mild) Adults: 25yrs & above (kingfisher strong)

UB group clearly has focused on the beer product line the most with an extensive range of
products. UB group boasts a product line length of 13 in its beer line. The product line is
further broken down into product depth which represents the different products and variations
under the category. UB group has emphasized on increasing its product line depth by
introducing variations in its beer line like: Pints (330 ml), Bottle(650ml), Can (500 ml).

Analyzing the products under the brand and dividing it about the BCG matrix we get the
following classification for the products.

Star: Kingfisher Ultra

Kingfisher Ultra was launched in Q3 of 2009, a premium extension the brand Kingfisher.
Kingfisher Ultra is a beer that is distinctive in taste and comes in a unique new packaging that
the consumer can touch to feel the difference. Currently, Kingfisher Ultra is available in two
SKUs: 650ml and 330ml bottles, in the most differentiated packaging in the market.
Kingfisher Ultra Max with a robust 23% growth, has crossed 1 million cases in sale in 2019-
20.5 Addition of Ultra Witbier & Ultra draught to the Ultra product line has been done to
5
Annual report, 2019-20, http://unitedbreweries.com/pdf/InvestorReport/Annual_Report_2019-2020.pdf
tackle the competition from breweries in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai. Its tagline is
changed to ‘The Emperor of Good Times’ to promote its premiumness among other brands.

Cash Cow: Kingfisher Strong

Kingfisher Strong is the largest brand in the country, with a volume of over 107 million
cases.6 The brand was launched in 1999 to cater to the strong beer segment in the country. It
has been instrumental in taking the volumes and profitability on the upsurge for the brand.
Kingfisher Strong combines the unique taste and quality of Kingfisher in a Strong Beer and is
positioned on the similar platform as the mother brand – Kingfisher. The tagline used for
communicating the positioning is ‘Same Taste. Extra Dum’. Kingfisher Strong has a national
footprint and is among the top 3 strong beer brands in almost every state in the country.

Question Mark: Kingfisher Draught and Kingfisher Blue

Kingfisher Draught: It was launched exploit the beer-on-tap segment that has come to
account for more than a third of beverage sales in most pubs and resto-bars. This beer has less
water in comparison to other beer types. It is still to prove its market potential and show
promise in the coming years. It contributes very little to the business as the supply chain
requirement is huge, but it is aimed at increasing the footprint of the brand.

Kingfisher Blue: Kingfisher blue is a premium, high end beer launched by UB to combat the
threat posed by new entrants in the category like Carlsberg, InBev and other breweries. The
brand’s core target group is the young male population of the country. The brand has been
launched in key markets like Karnataka, Pondicherry, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Delhi, and
Rajasthan. The packaging bears a sophisticated look which goes well with the positioning,
but it remains to be seen how all this plays out in the marketplace.

Dog: UB Ice Beer

UB Ice Beer: This beer was launched for trendy people in 330ml can. It was different from
the traditional lager beer as it was made using a unique refrigeration process which involves
the formation of ice crystals which were filtered out giving the brew a crisp, clear and strong
taste. It did not get good response as it has very low market growth instead people are
drinking more the lager and strong beer.

Though the Indian beer market is primarily dominated by Kingfisher brand, there are few
competitors.
6
Ibid.
  SAB Miller has premium beer brands in the market with the likes of Haywards, Royal
Challenge and Fosters. SAB Miller has expanded strategically to take control of beer
markets at most places in the country. SABMiller operates in markets, which in the
past has limited the threat of new entrants. SABMiller India now brews & markets
Foster's in various parts of the country. Foster’s enjoys a market share of 2 % of the
Indian beer market, while SAB Miller has around 35% of the market share.7
 AB InBev, which sells brands such as Budweiser, Corona, commands a market share
of around 20%8 in the Indian beer market, this is less than half of UBL’s market share
in the total beer market in India. However, when it comes to the premium segment,
AB InBev’s brands take up 65% 9 of the market share. UBL also has pricier products
such as Kingfisher Ultra, Storm and Heineken, and has been growing in double-digits,
but these account for less than 10%10 of its total sales. Currently AB InBev is focused
on the premium segment in which they are the market leaders.
 Carlsberg has about 18%11 market share in India and is the world’s third largest beer
maker. It has two strong beer brands, Tuborg Strong & Carlsberg Elephant. Tuborg
accounts for more than 66% of the company’s annual sales. Tuborg is the top
international beer brand in the country. Carlsberg has the second highest market share
in the premium market but UBL’s kingfisher ultra-brand is quickly catching up in
sales to Carlsberg’s brands.
 Bira 91 has a market share of about 5% 12 of the overall beer market. Bira91 was
launched in 2015 in Indian market and has grown at a CAGR of 304% during the
period 2014 and 2018.13 While Bira has a small market share in the overall beer
market, they are the leaders in the craft beer segment. Although Bira is still making

7
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/sabmiller-buys-fosters-india-for-rs-
540-crore/articleshow/1855770.cms?from=mdr
8
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/ab-inbev-wants-its-premium-brands-
to-have-a-bigger-play-in-indias-beer-market/articleshow/74220554.cms
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid
11
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/carlsbergs-india-volumes-stay-flat-in-
19/articleshow/74023308.cms?from=mdr#:~:text=%E2%80%9D%2C%20he%20said.-,Carlsberg%20has
%20about%2018%25%20market%20share%20in%20India%20where%20the,of%20the%20company's
%20annual%20sales.
12
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/bira-beer-maker-piles-up-losses-in-
sales-push/articleshow/67951882.cms?from=mdr
13
https://www.globaldata.com/bira91-leads-craft-beer-market-india-says-globaldata/#:~:text=Amit%20Gupta
%2C%20Consumer%20Insights%20Analyst,23.1%20million%20litres%20in%202018.%E2%80%9D
 losses, but with huge revenue growth Bira has a very good chance of taking away the
market share.

Kingfisher serves premium quality beer. Even though they face tough competition from their
competitors, it does not have any effect on its pricing strategy. They adopted a premium
pricing strategy for its premium products. Even if they must increase its product price than its
rival brand, they will not compromise the quality of the product. This worked and led to
increase in revenue.
UBL has focused on Mergers and acquisitions to generate market strength and gain huge
capacities.
1996 Bombay Breweries is acquired.
2000 Associated Breweries & Distilleries and Mangalore Breweries & Distilleries
were acquired
2001 Inertia Industries (name changed to Millennium Beer) gets acquired.
2001–02 Enters a Joint Venture with Scottish & Newcastle UK and McDowell Alcobev
Table1. Important M&As in the company history of UBL. (Source: Company Website, http://unitedbreweries.com/about-us
Ltd. (name since changed to Millennium Alcobev Pvt. Ltd. – MAPL).
2002 MAPL acquires GMR Beverages, Empee Breweries. GMR, Empee and
Millennium Beer become subsidiaries of MAPL.
2009 United Breweries & Heineken Join Hands to Lead Indian Beer Market
Kingfisher is present in almost all the outlets across the country through the strength of an
extensive distribution network and a diversified brand portfolio. Kingfisher follows the
traditional distribution channel where the product goes from the manufacturer to the
distributor to the retailers and to the consumers. Thus, there is a two-level distribution
channel. The reason for the adoption of two-level distribution channel is the high number of
outlets that the company reaches out to. With the level one distribution channel the company
would not be able to maintain the adequate supply to each outlet and thus with the volume of
sales and the product portfolio two level distribution is the most suitable distribution channel.
With the strong market share and a good distribution network Kingfisher has been able to
maintain good shelf space in the retail outlets. Various outlets where the products reach the
consumer includes the retail outlets, restaurants and pubs.

Indian alcoholic beverages market is one of the fastest growing industries in the world with
several yet to the explored segments. Over the past few decades, beer has emerged as a
popular drink among Indians. At the third place after IMFL and country liquor, in the Indian
alcohol beverage market, beer has a market share of about 20%. 14 With growing urbanization
and pub culture in India, especially with the youngsters, alcohol consumption is most likely
to see multifold growth. The market has been growing mainly because of youth, higher
disposable income, rising preference for low alcohol beverage and gradual social acceptance.
Drinking in bars is fast becoming a social phenomenon in cities such as Delhi, Gurgaon,
Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. The latest TVC campaign by Kingfisher, ‘Kya plan hai’,
shows a young boy in his mid-twenties who has s hidden some Kingfisher cans in the fridge
only to be caught by his father. Much to his surprise his father gives him permission to have
it. Such campaigns are aimed at the growing young population in the country and we think
this is the correct strategy to target the youth which forms a prominent target segment for the
brand. This age group is the most appropriate target for beer as they have lesser
responsibilities and greater purchase power.

Brand Funnel of Kingfisher Beer

1. Introduction
For measuring the brand funnel, we conducted a primary research where we measured
the awareness, trial, repeat and MOUB of 7 prevalent beer brands in India, those are
Kingfisher, Budweiser, Heineken, Tuborg, Bira, Haywards and Royal Challenge

14
https://medium.com/marc-insights/alcohol-industry-in-india-b5f650853038
 Lager. We divided the Indian market into 5 zones: North, South, East, West and
Central to get better understanding of the brand funnel in each zone as each zone has
their cultural, logistical and preferential distinctiveness. The primary research was
conducted on 213 respondents. The respondent belonged to different zones of the
country:
 North - 84 Respondents
 South - 29 Respondents
 East -15 Respondents
 West - 22 Respondents
 Central - 62 Respondents

2. Brand Funnel for Kingfisher beer

 Following is the data of brand funnel of Kingfisher beer of India and its five
regions

Total Awareness Trail Repeat MOUB

India 213 198 (93%) 169 (79.34%)* 155 (72.8%) 81 (38%)
North 84 78 (92.9%) 68 (81%) 63 (75%) 26 (31%)
South 29 29 (100%) 22 (75.9%) 21 (71.4%) 14 (48.3%)
East 15 12 (80%) 12 (80%)* 11 (73.3%) 4 (26.7%)
West 22 22 (100%) 19 (86.4%) 15 (68.2%) 9 (40%)
Central 62 57 (91.9%) 48 (77.4%) 45 (72.6%) 28(45.2%)

Note: (*) There were actually 13 person who tried kingfisher once but 12 person who

were aware of it we have assumed that one respondent mistakenly filled it.

3. Hypothesis for the different conversion ratios of the brand funnel

a. Awareness:
 Except for Eastern zone of India, all the other zones as well the country itself
is highly aware of Kingfisher brand (Awareness > 90%). This indicates that
 the advertisement of Kingfisher beers and the medium through which they are
advertising is bang on target.
 For Eastern zone, the brand enjoys Awareness of 80% which is good but being
an undisputed market leader, the brand would want to increase their
Awareness in the zone. This can be done by increasing the marketing and
advertisement spending along with reviewing the medium through which they
are doing the promotions.
 As per the survey, Budweiser (94%) in North Zone and Tuborg (93.3%),
Budweiser (86.7%) and Bira (86.7%) in East had better awareness than
Kingfisher.

b. Trail to Awareness ratio:

 The trial to awareness ratio for different zones and the country: India
(0.8535), North (.871), South (.759), East (1), West (.864) and Central (.842).
 Except for South the Trail to awareness ratio is very good for Kingfisher. This
indicates that the message communicated by the brand is remembered by its
customer (high recall), the message is well understood and is understood in
the same manner in which the brand wants its customer to understand (high
comprehension) and the lifestyle portrayed and the benefits sought by the
brand fits the customer’s though process (high empathy). Also, as per Brand
Asset Valuator framework, Kingfisher enjoys better position on Knowledge
and Esteem.
 As beer has a partial commodity dimension availability of the product would
also be a determinant for Trail/Awareness ratio. A high trail/awareness ratio
may also be associated with better supply chain of the company.
 Kingfisher should conduct a market research in the Southern Zone to check if
the message they are trying to convey through their advertisement ticks all the
three factors, recall, comprehension, and empathy.
 As per the survey, Budweiser (.8076) in South and Budweiser (.8734) and
Tuborg (.9324) in North has better Trail/Awareness ratio.

c. Repeat to Trail Ratio:

  The repeat to trail ratio for different zones and the country: India (.917),
North (.926), South (.9545), East (.9166), West (.7894) and Central (.9375).
 The repeat to trail ratio for Kingfisher is above 0.9 for the country and all the
zones except West. The high repeat to trail ratio indicates that Kingfisher beer
meet the expectations of the customers who tried it for the first time thus
resulting it repeat purchase. As per the Brand Asset valuator framework, the
brand is relevant among its customers.
 In West zone to improve the repeat by trail ratio, Kingfisher needs to
understand the needs of the customer better to cater them successfully.
 As per the survey, Budweiser (1) and Tuborg (1) in South, Budweiser (1) in
East and Budweiser (.866) in West has a better repeat to trail ratio than
Kingfisher.

d. Most often used brand (MOUB)to Repeat

 The MOUB to repeat ratio for Kingfisher in India and different zones: India
(.522), North (.41), South (.66), East (.3636), West (.6) and Central (0.62)
 Except for east zone MOUB to repeat ratio is more than 0.4. The high ratio
indicates that the brand’s offering is better than that of its competition. As per
the brand asset valuator, the brand is better differentiated than its competition,
relevant to its customer and enjoys high esteem.
 High MOUB to repeat ration indicates that income from the brand would be
less volatile, which is considered good from a stakeholder’s perspective.
 Competition analysis should be done to identify place of point of parity and
point of differentiation as well as the value provided by the competition to
improve MOUB to repeat ratio.
 As per the survey, Bira (.66) in West and Tuborg (0.4545) in East has a better
MOUB to repeat ratio as compared to Kingfisher.

4. The Survey Instrument

Brand Equity
Brand equity is an important quantitative measure of the performance of a brand in the
market. It refers to the value premium a brand generates in comparison to a generic
equivalent. The value is determined by consumer perception of and experiences with the
brand. Brand equity is what the brand is worth for the customer. A company enjoying high
brand equity can charge a premium by virtue of it and generate higher levels of revenue.
Companies can create brand equity by a variety of marketing efforts including but not limited
to promotions, superior product quality or attributes, memorable campaigns and improving
recognizability. It develops and grows because of a customer’s experiences with the brand.

Measurement of performance of a brand can be done in several ways. Firstly, it can be done
at different levels of granularity –

1. Firm Level
This approach considers the brand as an intangible asset of a company and calculates
the value added by it to the company as a whole. Taking the total value of a company
in terms of market capitalization and subtracting all the tangible assets and
‘measurable’ intangible assets like patents, intellectual property and goodwill, we can
arrive at the contribution of brand equity to the value if the firm
2. Product Level
Conventionally, brand equity measurement is done at a product level by comparing
the customer’s willingness to pay for a generic or private-label product to that for a
branded product
3. Consumer Level
This approach tackles the question of how much sway a brand enjoys in the minds of
consumers. It is concerned with measuring the awareness of brand for consumers in
terms of recall and recognition as well as the brand image in terms of associations
with the brand, positive or negative. A brand having a high level of awareness and a
strong and positive association with the consumers will be considered to possess high
brand equity

Brand Loyalty
It is the tendency of consumers to continuously purchase a particular brand of products over
others. Loyalty is a manifestation of consumer behavior patterns wherein they prefer to buy
products of a company or brand with which they gave built a trusting relationship.
As a measure of brand loyalty, we have analyzed the brand funnel data and tried to compare
the consumer behavior pattern in terms of which brand they have made repeat purchases for
and which brand is the most often used one for them.
Out of the 208 respondents to our survey instrument, excluding null responses, 46 customers
denoted Kingfisher as their most often used brand in beer category. For the same set of
respondents, 155 have made repeat purchase of Kingfisher. This gives us a 29.67%
conversion rate of repeat to loyal consumers. Among the competitors, this figure is as follows
– Heineken: 37.27%, Budweiser: 37.5%, Tuborg: 29%, Haywards: 18.86% and royal
Challenge Premium Lager: 3.22%.
Based on this data, we can say that Kingfisher enjoys an above average level of brand loyalty
among consumers, however it is lagging with respect to two of its competitors – Budweiser
and Heineken. One of the explanation for this could be since these two are global brands with
a worldwide presence with a strong marketing machinery and associations with popular
sporting events like UEFA Champions League of NFL Superbowl, Indian consumers
associate them with premium appeal and thereby showcase higher loyalty. Kingfisher, on the
other hand, is an India origin brand and although it enjoys significant loyalty in Indian market
due to its history and strong distribution network, a proportion of urban consumers may not
consider it matching with their aspirations and our survey respondents included a
considerable proportion of consumers from this segment.

Brand Equity: Price Premia

Price premia measure the ability of a brand to extract a premium from the customer. To
calculate price premia for brands in the beer industry, we have used the Van Westendorp
method. In this method, four questions are asked i.e

1) At what price the product is too expensive to buy?

2) At what price is the product considered cheap, i.e., low quality?
3) At what price is the product getting expensive, i.e., need to think before
buying?
4) At what price is the product a bargain, i.e., good value for money?
After the price point data from the survey is gathered, the “Optimal Price” of the product.
This optimal price is the Bargain and Expensive line's intersecting point in the graph of
cumulative frequency vs. price point (according to the class ppt). The graph also provides us
the range of acceptable prices wherein the starting point is the intersection of “cheap” and
“getting expensive” and the intersection of “bargain” and “too expensive.”

We had 36 responses for the Wentendorp method questionnaire, and the following are the
results for different brands. The market price in India varies from state to state, so we have
taken a range of prices.

Kingfisher:

120%
Kingfi sher : Opti mal Price
Cumulative frequency

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Price Points
Expensive Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

Here the optimal price is Rs. 200, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 130-Rs.240.
Currently, the price of Kingfisher Premium is between Rs. 150- Rs.190 in India. Kingfisher
premium's market price is in the acceptable range and optimal price is also more so,
Kingfisher's ability to extract more premiums in the future.

Budweiser:

120%
100% Budwieser : Opti mal Price
Cumulative frequency

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Price Points
Expensive Bargain Too Expensive Cheap
For Budweiser, the optimal price is Rs. 225, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 190 – Rs.
250. The market price for Budweiser (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 210 – Rs. 260. Here, it is
below the optimal price in some states and in some higher than the optimal price. So, the
ability to extract more premium also varies.

Bira:

120%
100% Bira : Opti mal Price
Cumulative frequency

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Price Points
Expensive Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

For Bira 91 lager, the optimal price is Rs. 220, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 200– Rs.
250. The market price for Bira (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 210 – Rs. 270. Here, it is below the
optimal price in some states but, in most states, higher or equal to the optimal price. So, the
ability to extract more premiums is limited.

Heineken:

120% Heineken : Opti mal Price

Cumulative frequency

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Expensive Price Ponts

Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

For Heineken lager, the optimal price is Rs. 230, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 200–
Rs. 260. The market price for Heineken (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 220 – Rs. 310. It is below
the optimal price in some states but, in most states, higher or equal to the optimal price.
Again, the ability to extract more premiums is limited.
Tuborg:

120% Tuborg : Opti mal Price

100%
Cumulative frequency

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Price Points
Expensive Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

For Tuborg, the optimal price is Rs. 180, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 155– Rs. 220.
The market price for Tuborg strong (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 150 – Rs. 190. Here, it is below
the optimal price in most states but, in some states, higher or equal to the optimal price.
Again, the ability to extract more premium is reasonable.

Hayward:

120%
Hayward : Opti mal Price
Cumulative frequency

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Price Points
Expensive Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

For Hayward, the optimal price is Rs. 180, and the acceptable price range is Rs. 155– Rs.
210. The market price for Hayward (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 140 – Rs. 160. Here, its market
price in all states is below the optimal price. So, the brand has a high ability to extract more
premium.
Royal Challenge Lager:

120%
Royal CH. : Opti mal Price
100%
Cumulative Frequency

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Expensive Price Points

Bargain Too Expensive Cheap

For the Royal Challenge, the optimal price is Rs. 180, and the acceptable price range is Rs.
160– Rs. 210. The market price for Tuborg strong (650 ml) ranges from Rs. 120 – Rs. 150.
Here, its market price in all states is below the optimal price. So, the brand has a high ability
to extract more premium.

Overall Snapshot:

Optimal Price
250

225 230
220
200
200
180 180
170
150

100

50

0
Kingfisher Budweiser Bira Heineken Tuborg Hayward Royal Ch.

Currently, Kingfisher ranks fourth in Optimal price ranking below Heineken, Budweiser, and
Bira. Bira is a relatively new entrant in the market and has a higher ability to extract premium
and has become one of the go-to brands for urban beer lovers.
Brand Equity: Leveragability

Leveragability can be defined as a brands’ potential to extend itself to a related and unrelated
product category. The brand can be extended to three categories of product:

1) Similar: There is an apparent functional similarity between the new category and
existing category
2) Associated: The is some kind of association between the new category and existing
category
3) No relationship: The is no association between the new category and the existing
category.

The leveragability of brand increases with its ability to successfully launch the product to
associated and No relationship categories.

Our methodology: To measure the leveragability of brands in the beer segment, we have used
wine, juice, chocolate, and car as the category to which the brand will be extended. In the
survey, we asked the question, “Which product would you buy under the given brand
name?”.

Results were:

  Wine Juice Chocolate Car None

Kingfisher 25 15 2 1 8
Budweiser 25 14 8 2 5
Bira 27 15 10 2 4
Tuborg 15 8 4 0 15
Heineken 25 10 10 3 7
Hayward 14 7 3 3 18
Royal Challenge 15 9 2 5 16

Since the brand is better leveraged when they can be extended to the categories that are more
un-associated with the existing product, we weighed the products. Wine is directly related to
beer, the juice is also a drink so somewhat related, chocolate is an edible so negligibly
related, and the car is entirely unrelated. So, the weight given to each category varies
accordingly, as shown in the left table below shows the weights assigned to each category.
We then generated a leveragability index as the sum of (number of responses*category), as
shown in the
WEIGHT FOR right table LEVERAGABILITY INDEX
LEVERAGABILITY below. Brands Index
Product Weight
Kingfisher 66
Wine 1
Budweiser 87
Juice 2
Bira 97
Chocolate 3 Tuborg 43
Car 5 Heineken 90
None 0 Hayward 52
Royal CH. 64
So, Bira has the highest leveragability index
followed by Heineken, Budweiser, and then with vast difference Kingfisher. Bira has an
added advantage as it is a new entrant, so less centrality with a product category. Kingfisher,
an airline operating under its brand name, has a relatively lower score, which should concern
the brand. Its association with “good times” (liquor) may be the reason for lower scores.