I officially hate Carlsberg
And that’s after trying only one of their beers (Tetley’s). I recently read an interview in The McKinsey Quarterly with Carlsberg’s senior VP, Alex Myers. The article outlines the steps Carlsberg (which encompasses about 100 different beer brands) is taking to combat proliferating channels, media and customer segments. A few tasty morsels from the interview:
“In Germany… we simultaneously distribute private-label and fighter brands and have one brewery dedicated to their production.”
NOTE: Beer should be differentiated by MORE than a brand name.
“[Brand] stretching is something we will do, usually by varying the alcohol level or the beer type. So you could have a light or alcohol-free variety and an extra strong one or a darker, lighter, or maybe citrus-flavored one.”
NOTE: If that’s variation, I don’t want to know what keeping it the same looks like.
“Perhaps one day we will have to produce other types of products, malt based by nonalcoholic.”
NOTE: Lame.
“Historically, brewers have been very big in the middle of the market, and if you go all the way back it was about having one brand in town: a single-geography strategy, if you like. Now there’s a polarization between the top and the bottom, and the risk is getting stuck in the middle. As I said, I see a big potential at the top, where variation and delivering experiences for consumers will bring higher margins. It’s almost as if beer is in the entertainment or chocolate business, providing new tastes and flavors at high prices.”
NOTE: Way to suck the life out of beer.
And here I was thinking that good beer was more than just a new flavor at a high price… He sounds like the CMO for Starbucks. It sucks seeing beer reduced to this kind of marketing drivel. I’ve come to expect it from Anheuser-Busch and company. And now from Carlsberg.
Jonathan, Joel & Jeff
July 16th, 2007 at 11:57 am
That is disturbing news. A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark. I really liked the tour as it was more about the history of the brewery and the old brewing style rather than a walk through the modern sterile brew house. The sampling bar was incredible, although the limit was 3, I think. The bottled Carlsberg that I bought while there was very good, so much better than the stuff that makes its way to the states. Beer loses something when its shipped around the world. During the week I was in Copenhagen I also visited a couple brewpubs which were also very good.