In professional golf it takes 72 holes to win a tournament, the Thursday round can put one in position, either to win or plan on an early exit.
I’ve visited hundreds of wholesalers, and many, especially in recent years, have described their business model as “brand builders.” Really? My former Brand Director (MBA-International Marketing, 30+ years in the beer business) and I were discussing distributor “brand building,” and he questioned this philosophy. Some things to consider: what distributor has created a brand, designed the packaging, developed the strategy, finalized the tactics, designed the p-o-s, hired the ad agency, completed focus groups, developed pricing matrix, made chain calls, and in some cases ATL marketing? Recently I was with a large wholesaler and asked him his definition of “brand building” His response: “No money!” Think about it!
In my contact list I may have 1,000+ business contacts, most from wholesalers. Not one states “brand builders.” Nope, they almost all say “Distributor and/or Wholesaler.” In fact, in the dictionary under “distributor” there is no reference to “brand building.” As a former boss used to say ” it’s the distributor’s job to get the dog food on the shelf, however, it’s the vendor’s job to get the dogs to come and buy the dog food!” To a great degree, that defines “brand building” better. Without the distributor getting the product to retail, on the floor, and in the shelf, there is no “brand building.” If the distributor defines the term “build a brand” in that sense, I understand.
Distributors asked me what my expectations were regarding the roll out of Krombacher. Most of them were looking for a “sales number.” My response? I expect you to execute, period. We didn’t know just how the brand would be accepted by the consumer, so the only way to get some idea was to have the distributor put the beer in the market. The distributor was to focus on our target accounts which were developed from the strategy we presented. If the brand was in the “right accounts,” and didn’t sell, it could have been a number of things: packaging, pricing, marketing, etc. You get the picture. We couldn’t determine what might be needed without the distributor getting the distribution.
I visited three large wholesalers in a major city in an attempt to assign Krombacher to one of them. After several visits and presentations, the one we chose had the best written go-to-market plan. Six months later, they had distribution in five on premise accounts (out of thousands). I went to two of them, one already had DQ’d it for another of the distributors brands, and the other didn’t even know the name Krombacher. Their response? “We need someone from the brewery in the market!” Now how can any vendor determine just what support is needed when the brand is not available to the consumer?
Shouldn’t “brand building” on the distributor tier be defined more in line with professional golf? If the distributor doesn’t execute on Thursday, the tournament is lost, and usually, lost forever. Someone else will win and both the distributor and vendor lose.
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