Kick off- That calls for a Carlsberg

Yes,It does call for a Carlsberg , I've finally started my Marketing blog.

Why Carlsberg?

I Was going for something challenging, with Mentos as my product. But after i started working on it , i realized that it does not have a lot of value addition and it would be difficult to have a thorough analysis later on. Which got me to , Carlsberg. (Also since i would get more inside information about it ,thanks to my sister..and this in turn will help her get a better idea..so its a win- win basically).

 Quick Introduction!

Setup way back in 1847, Carlsberg, a brewing company , headquarters are in Copenhagen , Denmark.
Products include Beers and soft drinks.
One of the top Beer manufacturers in the world.
Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd. came in around 2006 and is  headquartered in Gurgaon.
Brands- Carlsberg Green, Carlsberg Elephant, Tuborg Green , Tuborg Strong, Palone 8.
For More info check Carlsberg India ( If you still want to know more, google it).

Coming to the Point- The Topics Covered.

1) Customer Value
2) Customer Buying Decisions
3) Family life cycle and SEC
4) Competition
5) PLC and ILC
6) Product Mix
7) Services and Services Marketing.
8)Branding
9)Pricing
10)Promotion IMC/ATL/BTL
11)Distribution Decision
12)Sales Management
13)Customer Behaviour
14)Organizational buying behaviour
15)STP and Marketing strategies
16)Sustainable/holistic Marketing

Value Carlsberg gives you, The Customer.

Its the total benefit received by the consumer., the value that is provided by Carlsberg to its Drinkers. ( Must be something, since most people seem really happy after drinking)

Firstly What Value does Beer give?   

In terms of Nutrients-

	Regular Beer	Light Beer	Bud Light	Michelob Ultra
Water	327.4g*	335.8g	336.3g	337.7g
Calories	153*	103	110	96
Alcohol	13.9g*	11.0g	11.7g	11.3g
Protein	1.6g*	0.9g	0.9g	0.6g
Carbohydrate	12.6g*	5.8g	6.6g	2.6g
Fat	0.0g	0.0g	0.0g	0.0g
Cholestrol	0.0g	0.0g	0.0g	0.0g
Calcium	14mg	14mg	11mg	14mg
Magnesium	21mg	18mg	25mg	14mg
Phosphorous	50mg	42mg	39mg	28mg
Potassium	96mg	74mg	92mg	60mg
Sodium	14mg	14mg	11mg	11mg
Niacin	2mg	1mg	N/A**	N/A**
Folate	21mcg	21mcg	N/A**	N/A**

Its also said to help people gain weight

Some more food for thought , Drink beer ?

A Carlsberg Customers Value

• Refresh
• Tasty!
• A Chill with your friends drink
• The experience
• Thirst quencher
• Status symbol (since its a premium brand)
• Associated with lot of sports brands, and hence gives customers a feeling of attachment towards those Brands( Example- Liverpool Football Club{not associated now, Kings 11 and Arsenal are few current examples})

Here's an ad which shows what Carlsberg tries to sell to its customers, i.e. , Chilling together. That's the value its customers want

Consumer Buying decision process

 

       A Brief Analysis(Read from Bottom to Top)

Detailed analysis

The Beer Market(Competition)

 Carlsberg Entered the Beer market in India in 2006 and started full operations by 2008. In Four years it has grown rapidly and eaten into a lot of the competitors market share.

The Major Players in the Beer market are-

1) Kingfisher (Market Leader)

Strategy-A Mass appeal, for all kinds of beer drinkers( affiliated more with cricket in India, which is again a widely followed sport in India). Competitive pricing



2) Fosters(Market Follower)

Strategy-Targeting premium audience, with a premium pricing



3) Budweiser(Market Challenger)

Strategy- Competitive to premium pricing



4) Haywards 5000

Strategy-Strong Beer , creates a macho and rugged Image)


5) Carlsberg( Market Nicher{has a Market challenger brand Tuborg})
Is High priced and caters to high income level/purchasing power group with a premium pricing.
Apart from these Other Alcoholic and Non - Alcoholic beverages could also be considered as competition.

6) Other Brands- Several other brands that haven't been able to make a mark or are very niche or cater to the low priced bracket( although most companies have a brand in each segment).

Product Mix

As such the product Mix for Carlsberg is pretty simplified.
Their main income is from beer(although they also produces of drinks)
It has Pint, Bottle, Can,Drought, Tap
Apart from the alcohol they also have Merchandise for different purposes.
A very detailed and easier viewing for the Product mix can be seen here , it has all the required filters. Carlsberg Product line

Explaining the terms

Width

The width of a company's product mix pertains to the number of product lines that a company sells. For example, if a company has two product lines, its product mix width is two. Small and upstart businesses will usually not have a wide product mix. It is more practical to start with some basic products and build market share. Later on, a company's technology may allow the company to diversify into other industries and build the width of the product mix.

Length

Product mix length pertains to the number of total products or items in a company's product mix, according to Philip Kotler's textbook "Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control." For example, ABC company may have two product lines, and five brands within each product line. Thus, ABC's product mix length would be 10. Companies that have multiple product lines will sometimes keep track of their average length per product line. In the above case, the average length of an ABC Company's product line is five.

Depth

Depth of a product mix pertains to the total number of variations for each product. Variations can include size, flavor and any other distinguishing characteristic. For example, if a company sells three sizes and two flavors of toothpaste, that particular brand of toothpaste has a depth of six. Just like length, companies sometimes report the average depth of their product lines; or the depth of a specific product line.

Consistency

Product mix consistency pertains to how closely related product lines are to one another--in terms of use, production and distribution. A company's product mix may be consistent in distribution but vastly different in use. For example, a small company may sell its health bars and health magazine in retail stores. However, one product is edible and the other is not. The production consistency of these products would vary as well.
For Carlsberg a lot of their products are closely related and have overlapping markets.

Product Market Mix Strategy

Carlsberg promotes its two Major Brands Carlsberg( Premium) and Tuborg (Youth centric).

Family Life Cycle & Socio Economic Classification.

First lets understand what FLC is, here's the definition, courtesy AMA-

1. (consumer behavior definition) A sociological concept that describes changes in families across time. Emphasis is placed on the effects of marriage, divorce, births, and deaths on families and the changes in income and consumption through various family stages. 2. (consumer behavior definition) Families account for a very large percentage of all consumer expenditures. Much of this spending is systematic and stems from natural needs that change as a family unit goes through its natural stages of life. These range from the young single and the newly married stages to the full nest as the children are born and grow, to the empty nest and the final solitary survivor stage. Each transition prompts changes in values and behavior.

 More about FLC

FLC for Carlsberg would be- The TG is Unmarried Working Professionals (Age Bracket of 25-35)
In the FLC they are the new couples, some couples with young children, the Teenagers(althought legally not allowed) are also a part of the FLC.

And the SEC


Only the A1 and A2 classification of people apply to Carlsbergs premium brands( IncludingTuborg)

Premium Quality , and Price.

Carlsberg is Premium Priced and thus is higher than the competitive market price( taking Kingfisher as the competitive priced product, Carlsberg is higher).
The price variation varies from country to country based on the tax laws , etc. But it caters to the upper class and is sold in high profile bars,events,etc.
They charge for the quality they provide, in terms of the product as well as the status symbol it carries along with it. Also a lot innovation and research goes into the several processes.

It also sponsors a lot of events including concerts, sports events and many others. Where it brands itself as a premium brand and thus demands a higher price.

Product and Industry Life Cycle

PLC-Established in the year 1847, Carlsberg has long passed its whole Introduction to growth to maturity stage.
It has been at the stage of maturity since quite sometime now( it started expanding operations from the early 20th century). Although a sort of a decline can be said to have happened during the end of the 19th century which led to a few changes. But since then Carlsberg has been going from strength to strength and has witnessed great progress.

It maintains its level of maturity by being continually active in the market by way of aggressive marketing and promotions. They have entered many new markets and have a big marketing budget which is pretty effective since the sales boost can be seen. Wherever they go, they achieve quick results compared to other market competitors.

ILC- It has established itself in several markets and is at different stages in different markets, the beer market has always been very competitive with a few big players ruling the market.  Carlsberg has the worlds 3rd largest brewery and is among the top 5 beer manufacturers. In India even with its late entrance it has managed to cut down the gap from kingfisher( counting Carlsberg and tuborg) and holds a stake of around 10%.

Services and Services Marketing.

Since Carlsberg is a more Goods intensive company, the services are mostly attached to the good. In which case, if there is a problem then the local manager can be contacted whose Email ID and Number is mentioned on the bottle( consumermanager@carlsberg.in +91 124 4554411 in case of India .

Sustainable/holistic Marketing

As far as CSR goes, Carlsberg are in the right direction and in sync with the current requirements.

They have programs on how they can improve usage of energy to reducing water consumption to the effective packaging of their products, and also to promote responsible drinking( Most Important!).

The whole process, working and the different programs can be seen at Carlsberg CSR (its all there, very systematically)

STP and Marketing strategies(Add more)

International beer companies have a good enough reason to tap markets like India. That their main markets, North America and Europe, are either flat or in a state of decline is no secret. The recently introduced international brand is priced at a premium to other local offerings. But that does not deter middle-class customers.

Segmentation

Geographical

- The major consumer for alcoholic beverages is Southern India.Carlsberg has consciously chosen the north, east and west regions of the country to set up its breweries when it saw its competitors focusing on the southern region. The strategy adopted by Carlsberg is to concentrate on to the untapped market of north and west India in the initial stage of the production.Moreover, since it has positioned itself as a premium product, it is only catering to the urban cities of India.

Demographic

- The age of India is changing. India is becoming younger. Thepopulation of youth is high in India. With its international image as thesponsor of a football team, it has created an impression in young ones’ mind.The rise in disposable income of the urban middle class is also a point.

Psychographic

- The culture, the lifestyle, the personality of an Indian ischanging which is good for international brands like Carlsberg.

Target

The target market for Carlsberg as discussed earlier is the changing Indianwhich is the only reason it has targeted all the urban cities of India. It may not be called a niche marketing because of the nature of the product but yes theproduct is placed at a higher price because of the image of the brand it wantsto cash on. Outside India they have associated themselves with football andhas created an impression of a young drink which they have brought to Indiaas well. Though the Indian scenario doesn’t allow them to advertise openly,Carlsberg has successfully associated itself with the young and changingIndian.

Now to overcome this challenge and at the same time to target youngconsumers, Carlsberg India has converted its website into a social networkingwebsite so that more and more people get to know about the product. A break through marketing! 

Positioning

Carlsberg has positioned itself as a premium beer in the Indian market.Carlsberg is the most expensive beer compared with its competitorsBudweiser, the UB Group's Kingfisher and Tiger beer by Asia PacificBreweries (a joint venture of Dutch brewer Heineken) in the Indian market.The company is betting on the shift in urban consumers to spend on quality.

Carlsberg is also under the process of test-marketing its strong beer brandOkocim Palone from Poland. As its long-term strategy for the Indian market, it plans to deploy a portfolio with brands in new beer segments and at severalprice points.

Marketing Strategies Adopted 

The share of Carlsberg is positioned in the premium lager segment, where it has to face top beer competitors, such as Heineken, reason why they  have created a strong marketing strategy. In recent years Carlsberg Group’s attention has been more and more directed to commercial initiatives in order to create value for consumers. Carlsberg advertise itself as being “probably the best beer in the world”. On its official web page, it is stated that what sets Carlsberg Group apart from other competitors is its attitude towards differences and the respect they have towards culture, people and brands. 

In India, they have shifted focus to events for their brand activation, and BTL promotion . They sponsor several small but high profile events at high end lounges. 

Organizational buying behaviour

"Organization buying is the decision-making process by which formal organizations establish the need for purchased products and services and identify, evaluate, and choose among alternative brands and suppliers."

It is basically the decisions made during B2B transactions so as to maximize profits. Buyer behavior among B2B companies today is complex. Marketers tend to talk about “the B2B buyer” as an individual tasked with making decisions on behalf of the organization, but the buyer is often a group of people with different perspectives and requirements.

Being a strong Brand and a large Company Carlsberg would manage to get its way in terms of negotiation. It also has the advantage of a great history.

Customer Behaviour (Add more)

- 4P’s:

Products:

Three product have been launched in India

Carlsberg, Okocim Palone and Tuborg.

Price:

Different variants have different price,

Place:

All the metros and major cities especially north and west India.

Promotion:

Targeting the youth with their mild section, have a variant for strong section, freesample, social networking.

-Environmental Stimulus-  Alcohol culturally has a negative image and is not acceptable. There are a lot of issues revolving around the age limit as well. Government is always trying to cut down consumption. Not allowed to advertise as well
-Decision Process (Explained in the consumer buying process post)
-Characteristics- The Carlsberg drinkers are more of  the up market youth , and the working professionals. A lot of the middle aged also drink Carlsberg. It gives them a status symbol, when going out in public. Many also like the taste of it
-Buyers Response- The timing  of purchase is mostly at occasions like social events, concerts, shows, etc.