Quote:
Originally posted by fire1977
I don't feel comfortable posting where I work here although it's not that difficult to figure out. My real concern is for the regional breweries that are dying not craft brewers.
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OK - let's just pretend you work for a smallish, cultish, regional brewery with a strange, hard to pronounce name that begins w/ a 'Y' so that we can reference your brewery in an indirect fashion for our hypothetical conversation . . . now, I just don't feel that I understand your concern. Craft brews, with super-small (read: sub-regional) distribution are destroying (compared w/ their previous numbers), enough to worry the majors. Enough to force strategic mergers. Remember - Bud's numbers are DOWN!
Quote:
Originally posted by fire1977
The last article I read did have interbrew being the largest...maybe asset wise? Who knows. All I know is that I spend most of my days pushing a product that everyone claimes to love but doesn't support financially.
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Worldwide, Interbrew is 6th. Bud is first, then SABMiller (off Bud's website).
Obviously, the region may love that 'y' beer . . . but let's be honest: with the pricing and substandard distribution, along with the depressed economy of the region, how can you blame anyone? It's the Pabst concept - they started regional, then busted nationwide decades ago, and exist today solely for that region. So, everyone has to change to compete - merge w/ your friends at genessee, or create a distribution agreement w/ the new coors/molson, a la redhook and modelo.
If "y" beer is failing, it's not because of bud or this merger - these are acts to cut costs, remember, b/c both are losing market share.
Quote:
Originally posted by fire1977
But I have real concern for ANY company (and there are a lot out there) that has such a high market share. Just goes to show that people buy into crappy product as long as you've got "funny commercials". I lose faith in the human race more and more each day.
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Nah - it's b/c it's cheap, followed distantly by the advertising. Most people don't have a very refined beer palate, resulting in Bud and Miller dominating. However, we've obviously seen a huge increase nationwide in the number of people with a solid beer palate - how else can you justify the increase in craft brew sales, even at sometimes 4x the cost per bottle compared with large-run domestics?
ask yourself, then, why "y" brand isn't seeing these increases . . . is it a regional issue? is your product stuck in the middle of the palate, outshined by Grant's, Left Hand, and Harpoon, but still 'out-cheaped' by Bud? Or is it a need for better advertising, better POS (which I'll tell you DOES matter - ask your local Sierra Nevada rep), or simply a better product?
I don't have the answer, but Sierra did, and Grant's did, and New Belgium apparently does. Red Hook found one way, however conceptually distasteful, and Sam Adams provides the best possible example with their build-up to their position today.
Why isn't "Y" those guys?
**Now, don't take this the wrong way - every kid from PA or WV who i went to school w/ loved "Y" . . . but I just don't think this merger is bad for you, as much as it indicates the possibility for others to come in and just steal space from big brands. It's happening all around you guys, so it's def possible - I wish you guys the best of luck, and i'm absolutely sure you can bring it around and see the same advantages that these smaller (and ostensibly less powerful) brewers are seeing.
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