Molson's Rant Case
Issue #1: Molson’s overall market slipping from increasing competition: The first main issue that Molson is facing is that their overall market share is slipping. They have experienced approximately $100 million in lost profit as a result of this decreased market share. Adding to this issue is the fact that their main competitor, Labatt, is gaining market share and have increased their market share and profits by around $30 million. Small, regional breweries like Sleeman’s and other microbreweries are also adding to this competition, making the beer industry a fiercely competitive one. In 1988, there were 50 breweries in Canada. Just 11 years after this, the number had grown to 75. People are beginning to be more open to trying new brands
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of beer, especially the specialty beer that the microbreweries offer. The competitive market has forced companies like Molson and Labatt to be able to differentiate themselves from the competition. Most consumers cannot distinguish the different taste in beer among different brands after performing a taste test. As a result, beer companies like Molson must be able to differentiate themselves from the competition through strong marketing campaigns.
Issue #2: Determining the theme for Molson’s next advertising campaign:
The Rant campaign produced by Molson as a result to declining market share was a very big success for them.
It received large media coverage on the television, radio, and newspapers and even received advertising awards. Molson was rewarded by gaining two points in the market share after the campaign, which is extremely significant as each point in market share is worth approximately $15 million. Despite the popularity of the Rant campaign produced by Molson, they were forced to address the question of where to go next. Molson was unsure of how long they could execute the patriotic theme of Rant without people getting bored. They also wondered how to maintain the momentum of The Rant campaign, while keeping the advertising fresh and interesting to their target audience (19-24 year old Canadians). The Rant was also unique in that it did not show a bottle of beer or people socializing in the commercial. Molson is faced to decide whether to keep using this type of non-traditional beer commercial or if making the more traditional beer commercials would result in more success. If their next campaign is not successful, the problem of decreased market share being lost to competition may escalade even further. Unfortunately for Molson, in an industry such as this, there is room for …show more content…
miscalculations.
Alternatives for Issue # 2:
The Rant was very successful for Molson however we must consider alternatives of a future course of action in the advertising campaign.
We have determined two alternatives that could be considered for guidance on where to go next. Our first alternative is to switch to the more traditional beer commercials. This would be to make one similar to what Sleeman and the microbreweries have been producing for years. This advertising tactic has worked well for Sleeman by staying away from the national campaigns such as yourself and Labatt’s and targeting the microbreweries market. Advantages to conducting a traditional advertising campaign would be the emphasis on the quality of the product. Many times these commercials are depicting a historical view on the brand and how it got to where it is today. Another advantage is it would attract old customers back to the brand. With your recent lost of market share, a traditional advertisement would encourage people that were once familiar with the brand to go back to their roots and give it another try. A disadvantage would be stepping out of the national life style advertisements and leaving Labatt as the only one producing those style of commercials. This could severely hurt market share as the disloyal 19-24 year old market many times buy what they
see.
Our next alternative is to stick with the patriotic theme of the Rant and continue to promote the main stream life style. As the larger player in the Canadian beer market your brand is already well known. Creating your next commercial with similar qualities of your prior one could build on that advertisement and create an even better outcome. The life style/patriotic message have been a popular advertising campaign by you. With your research conducted in 2000 we can see that Canadians have an even bigger sense of belonging to Canada and that they think our country is better than the USA. This is a perfect opportunity to display patriotism as the name of your best product line is “Canadian”. An advantage to continuing with this advertising campaign is you will continue to attract your 19-24year old disloyal target market to try your brand. Also you can have streamlined advertising by connecting with Canadian sports such as Hockey Curling and Skiiing. Another advantage is you can keep your advertisements fresh by including new Canadian culture trends and ideas while maintaining the strong Canadian belonging. Also this campaign would be less costly as you were concerned with your return on investment in your marketing campaigns. Some disadvantages to this are the threat that it will become outdated or redundant. Also another threat would be that your main competitor could come up with a better idea. For example when Labatt created the ‘out of the blue’ your advertising suffered during this time.
of beer, especially the specialty beer that the microbreweries offer. The competitive market has forced companies like Molson and Labatt to be able to differentiate themselves from the competition. Most consumers cannot distinguish the different taste in beer among different brands after performing a taste test. As a result, beer companies like Molson must be able to differentiate themselves from the competition through strong marketing campaigns.
Issue #2: Determining the theme for Molson’s next advertising campaign:
The Rant campaign produced by Molson as a result to declining market share was a very big success for them.
It received large media coverage on the television, radio, and newspapers and even received advertising awards. Molson was rewarded by gaining two points in the market share after the campaign, which is extremely significant as each point in market share is worth approximately $15 million. Despite the popularity of the Rant campaign produced by Molson, they were forced to address the question of where to go next. Molson was unsure of how long they could execute the patriotic theme of Rant without people getting bored. They also wondered how to maintain the momentum of The Rant campaign, while keeping the advertising fresh and interesting to their target audience (19-24 year old Canadians). The Rant was also unique in that it did not show a bottle of beer or people socializing in the commercial. Molson is faced to decide whether to keep using this type of non-traditional beer commercial or if making the more traditional beer commercials would result in more success. If their next campaign is not successful, the problem of decreased market share being lost to competition may escalade even further. Unfortunately for Molson, in an industry such as this, there is room for …show more content…
miscalculations.
Alternatives for Issue # 2:
The Rant was very successful for Molson however we must consider alternatives of a future course of action in the advertising campaign.
We have determined two alternatives that could be considered for guidance on where to go next. Our first alternative is to switch to the more traditional beer commercials. This would be to make one similar to what Sleeman and the microbreweries have been producing for years. This advertising tactic has worked well for Sleeman by staying away from the national campaigns such as yourself and Labatt’s and targeting the microbreweries market. Advantages to conducting a traditional advertising campaign would be the emphasis on the quality of the product. Many times these commercials are depicting a historical view on the brand and how it got to where it is today. Another advantage is it would attract old customers back to the brand. With your recent lost of market share, a traditional advertisement would encourage people that were once familiar with the brand to go back to their roots and give it another try. A disadvantage would be stepping out of the national life style advertisements and leaving Labatt as the only one producing those style of commercials. This could severely hurt market share as the disloyal 19-24 year old market many times buy what they
see.
Our next alternative is to stick with the patriotic theme of the Rant and continue to promote the main stream life style. As the larger player in the Canadian beer market your brand is already well known. Creating your next commercial with similar qualities of your prior one could build on that advertisement and create an even better outcome. The life style/patriotic message have been a popular advertising campaign by you. With your research conducted in 2000 we can see that Canadians have an even bigger sense of belonging to Canada and that they think our country is better than the USA. This is a perfect opportunity to display patriotism as the name of your best product line is “Canadian”. An advantage to continuing with this advertising campaign is you will continue to attract your 19-24year old disloyal target market to try your brand. Also you can have streamlined advertising by connecting with Canadian sports such as Hockey Curling and Skiiing. Another advantage is you can keep your advertisements fresh by including new Canadian culture trends and ideas while maintaining the strong Canadian belonging. Also this campaign would be less costly as you were concerned with your return on investment in your marketing campaigns. Some disadvantages to this are the threat that it will become outdated or redundant. Also another threat would be that your main competitor could come up with a better idea. For example when Labatt created the ‘out of the blue’ your advertising suffered during this time.