I am a Marketing God.

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Cheesefood

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I just want to brag.

I'm currently going for my MBA. A class I took last quarter for Sales Promotion had a project where we had to help a local winery develop a marketing plan.

First off, check out this website that I created for my group's presentation. Not bad for one night's work, huh? Second, I have to say that the wine is C-R-A-P. It's so sweet that I wanted to rinse my mouth with Boone's Farm. He uses a ton of TABLE SUGAR in his wine to sweeten it. It's all brewed in Stainless Steel. No wooden barrel conditioning. Just disgustingly horrible wine.

My group scored the top honors in the class. Thanks more than a little to my leadership, we hit it BIG.

So, if any of you ever want to sell your stuff, hit me up for some Marketing advice if you need it. I AM A GREEK GOD when it comes to Marketing. even though I'm not Greek.
 
Dam I hate you marketing scum! I especially detest you because I know you're the difference between Bill Gates and bankruptcy, but I loath you nevertheless. :mad:

Having said that tho, I've got some software that you could help me with :) Oh yeah, and a chili recipe, and some bbq sauce, and this idea I've got for an Irish/Mexican brew pub :cool:
 
El Pistolero said:
Irish/Mexican brew pub

Speaking of Irish/Mexican bars, anyone ever been to that place in Boston. I think it's called Pepe O'Malley's or somethng of that sort. One hell of a good time.
 
Good website, but you are more of a marketing nymph or sprite. Doing well in marketing class only gets you to that level. My buddy's dad retired a few years ago from being the head of marketing for Wal-Mart. HE is a marketing god. Therefore, you are only a nymph. :D
 
Yeah, we have a Carlos O'Kelly's around here.

I've never seen anything resembling Irish on the menu's though.

As far as a marketing god...well, maybe in your own mind (not that however many times you say it won't make it true)...but like lawyers, most marketers create, cover-up, and perpetuate lies for the pursuit of the almighty dollar.

In the end consumers learn the product is crap via "word-of-mouth" (which is free) and will steer clear of the product. A chocolate covered turd is still a turd.

The trouble is that companies haven't acknowledged that most educated people see right through the BS and hype and don't buy a product for the same reason it's touted to be. (I never had a "Bud Select" for instance...actually I haven't had a A-B product since 1975...and I'm not going to change my mind about it anytime soon...but there's a lot of people who only drink Bud. Their loss.)

A marketers salary is paid directly by the consumers in the price of the item. Too bad. It's just a write-off to the company so they have no intrinsic value, attachment or loyalty to the product.

I have to give you credit though and was very pleased that you at least told us the REAL truth about the product (though I'm certain your presentation said nothing to that effect). Congrats! :D

Just be wary of the twisted lip service lawyers call "truth in advertising".
 
Well, sometimes you can screw yourself by being so jaded about marketing and new products. I had my first Bud Select at a bar about 6 months ago and now my roommates and I drink it more than Miller Light, Bud Light, Coors Light, etc. It's actually very good for what it is.
 
cowain said:
Well, sometimes you can screw yourself by being so jaded about marketing and new products. I had my first Bud Select at a bar about 6 months ago and now my roommates and I drink it more than Miller Light, Bud Light, Coors Light, etc. It's actually very good for what it is.

So true.

Funny quote you have there, "It's actually very good for what it is." So does that make it bad for what it isn't? :rolleyes:

I heard, from someone who has tried it, that it tastes like a watered down version of a light beer and more like seltzer water than Bud Light.

Hard to believe....
 
I meant that it is quite good for a low calorie domestic beer to drink at bars, clubs, etc. I completely disagree with the Bud Light comment. Bud Light is the beer that I would equate closest to water out of any beer I have ever tasted. Bud Select is more along the lines of a Coors Light, Miller Light or Michelob Light in its flavor and I actually like its aftertaste better than Miller Light when comparing the two back to back.

You should try one. I got my first few for free at a bar b/c I was drinking Miller Light at the time. The rep saw what I was drinking and apparently that's their target market with Bud Select. They've already got Bud Light for the high school kids and college girls, so they're going after the other domestic beer drinkers.
 
cowain said:
I meant that it is quite good for a low calorie domestic beer to drink at bars, clubs, etc. I completely disagree with the Bud Light comment. Bud Light is the beer that I would equate closest to water out of any beer I have ever tasted. Bud Select is more along the lines of a Coors Light, Miller Light or Michelob Light in its flavor and I actually like its aftertaste better than Miller Light when comparing the two back to back.

You should try one. I got my first few for free at a bar b/c I was drinking Miller Light at the time. The rep saw what I was drinking and apparently that's their target market with Bud Select. They've already got Bud Light for the high school kids and college girls, so they're going after the other domestic beer drinkers.

Now that I remember it, I was told the aftertaste was better.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I decline. :D

AS for what I do drink, well, I usually don't go out to bars. Beer that I buy, has to be something special, so I would say that about 99% of the beer I drink, I brew myself. :D
 
cowain said:
I got my first few for free at a bar b/c I was drinking Miller Light at the time. The rep saw what I was drinking and apparently that's their target market with Bud Select. They've already got Bud Light for the high school kids and college girls, so they're going after the other domestic beer drinkers.

This in ingenius. You, my friend, are brilliant! If only the local brewpub that serves others' beers as well would try to sway me like that. :D
 
gaelone said:
This in ingenius. You, my friend, are brilliant! If only the local brewpub that serves others' beers as well would try to sway me like that. :D

Yea seriously. I thought it was an awesome way to get someone to try something. This cute girl walked up with a bucket of beers and gave some of us beer. :D
 
Marketing is smoke and mirrors in one sense, but true strategy in another sense. Promotion is what most people think of when they think marketing: Packaging and Promoting. You are all marketing when you make beer. Why? Because you're using your insight to fill a gap in the current market place. Most of you say that you brew because it's the only way to get good beer. Therefore, you've realized that people with tastes similar to your own are displeased and would like an alternative. Your friends that drink your beers are who you make the product for - your target market.

As for Budweiser, you don't capture 54% of the domestic beer marketplace without making a product that people like. I like my homebrew, but it's not something I can drink 10-12 of in a night. When I'm hanging out and playing cards with my friends, I like to have a cold beer in front of me that won't fill me up and won't make me feel all wasted too early. Would you want to only drink high-grav beers if you were planning to hang out with your guys for 7-8 hours? Probably not. Would you want to see those greedy vampires you call your friends slurp-and-piss two cases that took you a month and a half to make in just a few hours? Probably not. Therefore, a product that you have zero attachment with is the right product.

When I have one or two friends over, I like to serve them my beer in a nice frosted glass. We have a few, discuss it and then get into solving the world's problems. We enjoy the beer as it is a centerpiece of the experience. But after about 3-4, we can start to feel the effects of it taking hold. It takes about 6 Miller Lites before I get tingly.

Therefore, I say that there is a time and a place for everything. Miller and Bud are perfect for certain occasions. Sierra Nevada, Bass and Guiness are great for other occasions. Home Brew is great for specific occasions. Just like I know that Charlie Trotter makes a damn fine meal, there's time that a greasy $3.50 burrito is jjust what I want.
 
I agree with the gentleman from Illinois. That sounded a bit Senatorial didn't it?

Marketing is not always about making a bad product sound good, sometimes it can clue you in to a good product you've been missing out on. There's a place downtown that has the best fast-food type food I've ever had. The only reason I found out about it was because they were going out of business and as a last-ditch effort to keep the place open they hired a marketing firm. Apparently sales doubled in a week and I have a new favorite fast-food joint when I'm on the north side of town. The new storefront allowed me to actually see the place on a busy street (in fact I'd driven past it on many occassions and didn't even notice it), the radio ads made me aware of their existence, and the simple, straightforward approach appealed to me. "Come by Pee-Wee's. The food is good and the prices fair." At least it was something to that affect. No gimicky crap to try and trick me to try their food. I really can't stand McD's and BK fries suck. They filled the void of fast, tasty food that fit my budget. I'd been wanting an alternative, I just didn't know there was one up the road.

Congrats on the success and best of luck with the degree. Someone's going to get paid a lot of money to promote products (see: Super Bowl commercials), you might as well be the one getting paid.
 
AlaskaAl(e) said:
I agree with the gentleman from Illinois. That sounded a bit Senatorial didn't it?

Marketing is not always about making a bad product sound good, sometimes it can clue you in to a good product you've been missing out on.

Thanks! The alcohol industry in based on it. Think about this: would you be interested in Grey Goose vodka if it came in a plastic jug for $9.99? Would you buy a micro brew that didn't have a clever name or odd flavor offering? Without marketing, beer is Miller and Bud.
 
Cheesefood; I agree as well on your beer consumption practices. Ain't no way I'm going to be watching NFL at 10a (out here!) and tapping into a Guiness Clone. I need to watch all 4 quarters so I usually indulge in the Champagne of Beers (long neck only). Time and a place for all styles of beer. Right now it's a Tecate with a lime as its too damn hot out right now.
 
Life's too short to drink bad beer!

Sorry, I don't agree with you. When I have people over it's not to serve Bud or Miller. I don't buy either of them. They are brought to my house because some people have no taste buds and refuse to be educated to the finer points of beer. My brother-in-law only drinks PBR.

My point is...IF I did have you guys over you'd be free to drink all the HB your heart desired..... :D

PS. I don't drink Vodka either.
 
Cheesefood said:
...Without marketing, beer is Miller and Bud.

Marketing made Miller and Bud what they are today, so without marketing, there is no beer...or maybe there would be more beer variety(who knows).

On a side note, I don't think there is such a thing as an absence of marketing...its everywhere. Its been a while since my MBA marketing class, but I recall something about 4 Ps (product, price, placement, promotion???). That pretty much covers any product in the marketplace.

What drives me to buy a craft beer has nothing to with a clever name but more to do with satisfying my palate.
 
I agree with vtfan. What drives me to try a new beer is not the ad, look, or design of the label. It's the word stout that the label carries. Sometimes you get a dud like Dragon Stout, and sometimes you get a great surprise like Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
Life's too short to drink bad beer!

Sorry, I don't agree with you. When I have people over it's not to serve Bud or Miller. I don't buy either of them. They are brought to my house because some people have no taste buds and refuse to be educated to the finer points of beer. My brother-in-law only drinks PBR.

My point is...IF I did have you guys over you'd be free to drink all the HB your heart desired..... :D

PS. I don't drink Vodka either.

Bill,
I'll always have a soft spot for PBR. It was the first beer I ever drank. I think I was five or so. Grandma and Grandpa Monkey believed in starting us early. I'm afraid I started too late to be a really good beer drinker, but I enjoy trying. I have to agree with the point somebody made earlier about not pouring homebrew down the throats of people who are accustomed to Mega Lite. Hell, one of my horses loves beer, and I love him, but I'd rather feed him Miller than my own brew. Point is, he can't appreciate the difference, neither can 80 % of beer drinkers. We are a select few ( be proud) . If it wasn't for Mega Lite and the other big guys, our neighbors would be at our houses bumming beer. :D
 
I decided to brew to carry on a proud family tradition. My grandparents were bootleggers during prohibition. My grandma tells me about when they used to make beer and sell it for a nickle a bottle, and that was when buying CaraPils, Wyeast #XXXXX and Fuggles was about impossible. They made the beer that their neighbors drank and had to worry about Al Capone's men who lived across the street.

People will drink anything they can in the absense of choice, simply because they like the feeling alcohol provides. If you were on a desert island, you'd crack a coconut and boil whatever plants you could find and hope that there was yeast in the air. It would taste like crap, but if you pulled a Castaway, you'd miss it when you got back. I speak from personal experience on this one.

Miller and Bud became dominant because they tasted better than the competition that was able to survive prohibition. The market place had completely reset itself, and everyone had the opportunity. Two survived the ages.

Now we enjoy the opportunity to try making new flavors.WhenI see a beer on the shelf, it has to have a label, name and description that intrigues me. At first, I tried every microbrew I could find, but I had too many disgusting beers to continue that for long. Now I consider myself to be my target market and I make things that intrigue me.
 
Cheesefood said:
Miller and Bud became dominant because they tasted better than the competition that was able to survive prohibition. The market place had completely reset itself, and everyone had the opportunity. Two survived the ages.

I disagree, miller and bud became dominant because of marketing, not because they tasted better than the others. During prohibition many breweries in the US went out of business while A/B shifted focus and manufactured other things. Marketing made them big not the taste of the beer. Same goes for McDondalds and BK. I don't eat at those places, because the food sucks (My opinion). But millions stuff those nasty burgers down their throats because they cost 99 cents. It is no small coincidence that Bud has has the largest and most successfull marketing campainn in history. They need it to sell a mediocre product. Think about it, the best restaurants in town usually do not advertise as well as the franchises, but are kept busy through word of mouth.
 
Zing...Havens KO's Cheesefood in the 23rd round...by using Cheesefood's own argument against him. :D
 
Wayne Havens said:
I disagree, miller and bud became dominant because of marketing, not because they tasted better than the others. During prohibition many breweries in the US went out of business while A/B shifted focus and manufactured other things. Marketing made them big not the taste of the beer. Same goes for McDondalds and BK. I don't eat at those places, because the food sucks (My opinion). But millions stuff those nasty burgers down their throats because they cost 99 cents. It is no small coincidence that Bud has has the largest and most successfull marketing campainn in history. They need it to sell a mediocre product. Think about it, the best restaurants in town usually do not advertise as well as the franchises, but are kept busy through word of mouth.

Technically, Miller and A/B survived because they were the only two who had the financial backing to survive Prohibition and hold out until it was replealed. In the mean-time, most brewery owners had sold their equiptment and closed up shop. A-B survived by making soda and near-bear. IBC (the fantastic Root-Beer people) started brewing root beer and was never able to regain market share with beer at the end of prohibition.

When prohibition ended and breweires were allowed to start up again, there were actually dozens of breweries. Most of them failed for two reasons: inability to mass-produce and the decrease of the popularity of pubs and bars. People were no longer going out to drink, they had become accustomed to drinking at home. Most breweries who were not producing beverages during prohibition did not have the relationships with stores and other retail outlets to get their product sold. Add to it that right around the end of prohibition came the advent of T.V., and it's clear that people wanted to sit around at home.

So Budweiser and Miller, with their financial strength, intelligent leadership and abundance of resources, were able to capture the market by producing enough beer to keep everyone's throat wet. Sure, there were plenty of beers around then that ketp with the law of being a max of 3.2%abv, but realize that many of them probably tasted WORSE than Bud and Miller.

If you know about A-B, they're an amazing company. They are the world leaders in recycling and own the resources to make every aspect of their product, from the grains, hops and yeast to the water purification to the bottle and can making operations, the label printing and the transportation.

Now, I'm not saying that Miller and Bud are my favorites, but I'll admit to loving a cold MGD on a hot day. Besides, since I can't brew lager in the summer, I sometimes need the golden, light taste and feel of a macrobrew.
 
Sam's book about opening DFH includes some text on this. He claims that AB has a 50.01% market share on domestic beer sales, or for every two beers sold domestically, one is an AB product. He argues that it is the strong marketing by AB that convinces the consumer that they want the cold. crips, watery beer. The consumer responds to the ubiquitous advertising and a decent portion of this income goes back into marketing/creating demand. I really recommend this book (as I'm sure others here have.)
 
I did a paper on A-B's new energy-brew for my marketing class. It's a truly horrible product, but I was interested in seeing what had convinced them that this would market well.
 
There were many other brewers that survived prohibition. Pabst. Schlitz. etc. Miller wasn't even a major player in the industry until 1970, when Philip Morris bought them. In 1972 they purchased the brand naems of Meister Brau, reconstituted the a Meister Brau Lite formula and began test marketing "Miller Lite" in 1973. Going national with "Lite" in 1975 is what made Miller a big fish. Before the 70s, before Philip Morris, they were just another brewer. I think they were only number 8 or 6 before the 70s.
 
p0svar said:
That's ridiculous. Miller and Bud are who they are because of marketing - they are the biggest names in US brewing. Specialty, Homebrew, Microbrew segments to this day still only consititute a small share of the US market for beer. The big three (A-B, Miller, MolsonCoors) make up a daunting 85% (give or take) of the US beer market.

My counter to your statement would be, "without marketing, beer is {insert Cheesefood's Homebrew here}." I've never heard of your beer? And you're an MBA marketing student - so where's your branding?

UH....okay. :rolleyes:

Relax, man.
 
Easy, man ! The Bro. in question started this post before the Drunken Ramblings, etc. section was started. Who hasn't gotten a little tight and suffered from a little megalomania every now and then ? I agree with you about marketing. Think of a beer jingle. Chances are, it's from one of the really big guys. Here comes the king , here comes the big number one.... Remember that one ? Thanks for the part about Miller Brewing Co. I had never heard that. As far as Cheesefood is concerned, I think he was coming off a big school assignment and feeling good about it. Let him roll.
 
Great marketing is not crappy beer dominating the field. Great marketing is getting people to pay $3 US for a pint bottle of WATER!
 
Good God, man ! Is your gas that high ? We're paying $2.90 something as of today for reg. unleaded. Diesel is right around that. It costs me right at $80 to fill up my bucket truck. Thank God the company is paying for it !
 
sudsmonkey said:
Good God, man ! Is your gas that high ? We're paying $2.90 something as of today for reg. unleaded. Diesel is right around that. It costs me right at $80 to fill up my bucket truck. Thank God the company is paying for it !
Dang, I'm getting ripped off! :mad: I paid 3.20 for diesel yesterday...cost me $138 bucks to fill up...my first car cost me half that. :mad:
 
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