CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

OF
Mountain Man Brewing
Company :
Bringing The Brand To Light

Key Personalities
Chris

Prangel - MBA Graduate

Oscar Prangel Retired Owner
and President of MMBC
Guntar Prangel Founder of
MMBC
John Fader, VP Sales

Case Facts
Mountain

Man Beer Company founded

in 1925 by Guntar Prangel
Chris Prangel , an MBA graduate
wanted to inherit his father`s
business.
Mountain Man brewed one beer called
Mountain Man Lager
Also known as West Virginia`s beer
Chris wanted to launch Mountain Man
Light among the youngsters

 For

the past 6 years beer sales in US had

been growing at a compound annual rate of
4%
Also had decrease of traditional premium
beer sales with same percentage
The reputation quality beer was well
entrenched throughout the East Central
region of United States
By 2005, Mountain Man generated revenue
over
$50million
and
selling
over
520,000barrels of Mountain Man Lager.
Held in top market position in West Virginia
among Lagers

 Price

$2.25 for a 12-ounce serving of

draft beer in bar
$4.99 for a 6-pack in a local convenience
store
Unaided response rate of 67% from
State`s adult population
In 2005, MML won Best Beer in West
Virginia for its 8th year straight
Also won Best Beer in Indiana
Selected as America`s Championship
Lager at American Beer Championship
MM sold 70% of its beer for off premise
consumption

SWOT Analysis
Strength

:
1. Market leader and well established brand
name
2. Strong brand equity
3. Best range of Attributes
4. Promotion Strategy & Customers
. Weakness :
1. Improper utilization of funds in
advertising
2. Lack of financial resources to compete in
the light beer advertising market

Opportunities

:
1. Reach out to younger demographic
2. Increase lifetime customer value
. Threats:
1. Risk of canalization of core brand
2. Alienation of core customer through
new brand
3. Dilutes Brand equity

Leading Questions
How

brand awareness campaign can be

carried out ?
Is the promotion strategy for Mountain Man
Lager & Mountain Man Light the same ?
Whether the MMBC should launch the new
brand in the market ?
What are methods adopted by MMBC to
improve their sales in future ?
Does the new brand affect the sales of
existing brand i.e Mountain Man Lager ?

Major Issues & Analysis

Pressure

on regional breweries
Mountain Man`s revenue declined in
2005 by 2%
Challenging company`s ability to
remain profitable
Struggling to maintain steady share of
its market segment against large
domestic brewers
Impact of Mountain Man Light on sales
of Mountain Man Lager

Financial

projections showed regional

revenue growth of the light beer
product @ 4% annually
Mountain Man steadily growing its
share of the regional light beer market
by a quarter of a percent each year off
of a 2006 base market share of 0.25%

Solutions
Launch

Mountain Man Light via brand

extension.
Launch new product using 4p`s of marketing
mix i.e Product, Price, Place Promotion.
Advertising the new beer brand through
Online Media and Social Networking Sites
Providing offer in prices for Mountain Man
Light if bought in high quantity
Easy to convince retailers to stock &
promote
Labeling and packaging efficiency

Promotional

material to cover all

partner retailers
Permission marketing getting
customer involved in the brand and
connecting other customers
Advertise in spot radio, outdoor and
social networks
Need to capture on-premise
locations like bar, pub which are
frequented by younger targetmarket
Multi-brand distribution system
should be followed

Situation Analysis of

Customer : The

beer industry in US generates $ 75 Billion in

annual sales.
Customers base their choice on taste, price,
occasion, perceived quality, brand
image,tradition, local andauthenticity
Eastern Central Region represents $13 billion in
annual sales out of $75billion.
Mountain Man counts with 81% male drinkers,
thus neglects Female market segment
Female market segment which represents 32% of
the TAM of domestic premium beer.

Focus

on a target market: blue-collar

male workers.
While their target customer brings them
the focus and loyalty needed to build
brand awareness and equity,
MML not taking consideration of other
marketsegments such as the whitecollar class and other potential niches
64% of Mountain Man drinkers are 45+
yearsold while the TAM for that age
category represents 49% of the
domestic premium beer market in the
Eastern Central

Competition :
Competitors

for Mountain Man are

Anheuser Bush, Miller brewing Co. and
Adolf Coors possessing 74% market
share of the overall brewing market.
These three companies have 84%
market share in the light beermarket.
They rely heavily on broadcasting
market as well product diversification
to create barriers of entry for other
brands

Company :Revenues

of over $ 50 Million, MMBC

Founded in 1925 by Guntar Prangel who
established itself as a premium domestic quality
beer,
Known for its flavor and bitter taste.
With time Mountain Man Lager became the beer
of pride in the Eastern Centralregion of the
United States.
Oscar Pragnel retired president and ownerand
the business stayed focused on maintaining the
quality and serving a specific market niche
building brand equity among blue-collar, middleincome and below workers.

Collaborators
Off-premise

locations, such as
liquor stores and super markets,
is Mountain Man main sales
channel as itsells 70% ofits
production at these locations.
The main reason for this result is
that60% of blue-collar workers
buytheir beer through the
offpremise locations.

MARKETING MIX ANALYSIS

Product:
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

MMBC willstandoutascomparedto competitors in

the light beer market .
Label should portray a fresh and young image since
the target segment is young adults.
Use of bold and vibrant colors to attract attention of
the customers
The bottle should use a lighter shade such aslight
green to differentiate from the dark brown bottles of
Mountain Man lager.
The light green used also indicated a lower alcohol
content of a new brand extension.

.Promotion
1.

PromotionBarmatstobedistributedtobarsandretail
outletscarryinglightbrewand Mountain Man lager.

Place
1.

2.

Productlineextensionsactuallyhelpedbrewers
obtain greater shelf space for products
andcreated greater product focus
amongdistributorsand retailers
There is a need to increase distribution among
bars which is only 30% ofcurrent sales.Need to
target locations that are frequent by the young
adults.

Price:

1.

Observe competitors pricing strategy and carry

out market research to determine the optimal
pricing.
It is important to price Mountain lightbrew not too
low in order to break even quickly and not toprice
it too high for fear of low sales.

2.

References : http://www.scribd.com/doc/49132085/Mount

ain-Man-Brewing-Company
Principles of Marketing, 13 Edition, Philip
Kotler
www.authorstream.com
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49132085/Mount
ain-Man-Brewing-Company

Presented By Group 3 :