Case Study Stella Artois
The Global Branding of Stella Artois
1. Interbrew decided towards a global brand because most competing companies, such as Anheuser-Busch, were moving towards this trend. A disadvantage or hardship that this company dealt with in developing Stella Artois into a global brand was the idea of a centralized plan approach. Before the move towards a global brand, the company operated in a decentralized way—allowing managers to operate their area in their own style for the most part. The centralized plan for the brand implemented an international advertising campaign that varied very little from country to country. There was a little difficulty in convincing all parties to participate in this global approach. In order for the launch to be successful, all groups needed to be supportive in the new approach. Another challenge for the company was funding developments; launching a global brand was very expensive. However, an advantage to this idea was simply keeping up with the current trends and being an active competitor in the market. Another advantage was that Interbrew was able to learn from other brands that had recently launched a global brand. Interbrew was able to focus their resources in the right places to ensure a successful launch to their new global brand from researching these other brands. Another advantage of this global brand launch was that it not only built the Stella Artois brand credibility, but it also reflected the entire company’s corporate credibility.
2. The two choices the company needed to distinguish between for the “Flagship” brand was Stella Artois and Labatt. Our group believes that Interbrew made the right decision. First, Stella Artois was the oldest and most broadly available brand—making it more well-known than Labatt. Second, Labatt was mostly available in the Americas. It was suggested that exposure of the Labatt brand outside of the United States and surrounding countries was very limited. Stella Artois had more potential to
1. Interbrew decided towards a global brand because most competing companies, such as Anheuser-Busch, were moving towards this trend. A disadvantage or hardship that this company dealt with in developing Stella Artois into a global brand was the idea of a centralized plan approach. Before the move towards a global brand, the company operated in a decentralized way—allowing managers to operate their area in their own style for the most part. The centralized plan for the brand implemented an international advertising campaign that varied very little from country to country. There was a little difficulty in convincing all parties to participate in this global approach. In order for the launch to be successful, all groups needed to be supportive in the new approach. Another challenge for the company was funding developments; launching a global brand was very expensive. However, an advantage to this idea was simply keeping up with the current trends and being an active competitor in the market. Another advantage was that Interbrew was able to learn from other brands that had recently launched a global brand. Interbrew was able to focus their resources in the right places to ensure a successful launch to their new global brand from researching these other brands. Another advantage of this global brand launch was that it not only built the Stella Artois brand credibility, but it also reflected the entire company’s corporate credibility.
2. The two choices the company needed to distinguish between for the “Flagship” brand was Stella Artois and Labatt. Our group believes that Interbrew made the right decision. First, Stella Artois was the oldest and most broadly available brand—making it more well-known than Labatt. Second, Labatt was mostly available in the Americas. It was suggested that exposure of the Labatt brand outside of the United States and surrounding countries was very limited. Stella Artois had more potential to