At last week’s NBWA convention in Chicago, much of the talk among distributors and speakers centered around the current performance of the craft segment. Both the scan numbers and data show a slowdown in craft volume sales and, the numbers show that the slow down seems to be accelerating during this second half of the year. Yet, there are still craft sales that go unreported, such as brewery tap rooms. Getting a handle on just how the craft segment is doing is difficult, at best.
At one time, defining beer segments was easy. There was the premium segment, mostly made up of Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Schlitz, and Pabst. There was the price segment, dominated by Busch and Old Milwaukee and malt liquors, dominated by Schlitz Malt Liquor. Rounding out the segments, one must not forget the imports, predominantly Heineken, Beck’s, the Canadian selections, and a few Mexican beers. Regional or local brands fit into one of the-afore mentioned segments, slipping into a price segment that allowed them to compete against the big national brands.
These days we have a number of segments: light beers, FMB’s, and many others, even segments within segments. It is hard to keep up with whom, or what, is in any particular segment… just look at crafts. Several years ago, the industry consultant, Mike Mazzoni, presented a graph at a convention which analyzed the product life-cycle of Budweiser. The graph was a classic bell curve. It is safe to say that Mike was showing all that every product has a life-cycle. So the question is, do segments have life-cycles, too?
The industry’s largest segment for decades has been the light beer segment, but light beers have been declining for some time now. Yet within this segment the hottest brand with the best numbers is Michelob Ultra. The light beer segment has lost millions in barrels yet Ultra is growing at an eye-popping rate. MillerCoors just announced that it will be testing an Ultra type product. Goldwing, a low carb, low caloric beer will be in a couple of states soon. Miller Lite positioned as a low carb, low caloric beer not long ago, was it not?
The light beer segment is not dead, not by a long shot, but there are brands that are going through the product life-cycle like the Budweiser graph mentioned earlier. Coors banquet has been growing in the domestic segment for years, while Budweiser, which had been declining, now shows signs of a comeback. The point is, perhaps the segment is healthy, but there are brands that are not healthy.
The craft segment is no exception as there are many brands growing at unbelievable rates, while others are, or have, gone negative. The segment is not the issue; it is brand(s) in the segment.
I learned the hard way about positioning in business, about catering to the right segments…
Beer Fodder; http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/
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