Yuengling Traditional Lager Brand AuditW Grant Normam Brand Audit wgnorman.com 7 | P a g e (Yuengling, 2013, p.10). While each of these brands have its distinctive flavor and market

Yuengling Traditional Lager

Brand Audit Submitted by:

W. Grant Norman

Brand Consultant

W Grant Normam Brand Audit wgnorman.com

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Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 3

Brand Inventory .................................................................................................................................... 4

Brand Organization and Positioning ................................................................................................. 4

Company attitudes and perceptions against competitive set ........................................................ 11

Brand Elements ........................................................................................................................... 11

Brand Associations ...................................................................................................................... 11

Company perceptions ..................................................................................................................... 12

Brand imagery ................................................................................................................................. 13

Brand performance ......................................................................................................................... 13

Brand personality ........................................................................................................................ 14

Competitive Environment ............................................................................................................... 16

Points of Parity ............................................................................................................................ 17

Points of Differences ................................................................................................................... 18

Alcohol Consumer Trends ........................................................................................................... 20

Brand Exploratory ............................................................................................................................... 21

Products and Services ................................................................................................................. 22

Consumer perceptions ................................................................................................................ 22

Sample Yuengling Beer Reviewer Comments ................................................................................. 27

Class Survey ..................................................................................................................................... 32

Brand Elements ............................................................................................................................... 34

Memorability............................................................................................................................... 34

Meaningfulness ........................................................................................................................... 35

Likeability .................................................................................................................................... 35

Transferability ............................................................................................................................. 35

Adaptability ................................................................................................................................. 36

Protectability ............................................................................................................................... 36

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 37

Brand Recommendations.................................................................................................................... 37

Distribution ................................................................................................................................. 37

Integrated Marketing and Communications ............................................................................... 39

Strategy: Social media marketing ............................................................................................... 41

Strategy: We’re coming to your state campaign ........................................................................ 43


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Strategy: Grassroots promotions and existing and new events ................................................. 43

Strategy: Your Renaissance Fair Sponsored Grog ....................................................................... 44

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 44

References .......................................................................................................................................... 45


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Executive Summary

Yuengling has enjoyed steady growth and good fortune through the hard work of its

employees and executive team. This brand audit serves as an opportunity to help continue that

growth and provide an overview of the state of the brand, consumer perception of the brand, and

recommendations to continue and expand the Yuengling brand.

The Yuengling Traditional Lager is reviewed against competing lagers, Budweiser and

Pabst Blue Ribbon. While Budweiser is the 3rd largest selling beer in the USA, Pabst is closer in

sales to Yuengling. Anheuser-Busch InBev and Pabst Brewing Company have their own

strategies and tactics, Yuengling’s strategies and tactics are also reviewed. With a hands-on,

family business model, much of the Yuengling success has been from the executives and of

course, their hard working employees.

With every bottle of Yuengling manufactured in their USA owned operated breweries,

one being the oldest brewery in the country, not only is the manufacturing model unique for a

brewery of Yuengling’s production capabilities, it is also unlike Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is

foreign owned, and it is not like Pabst Brewing Company which basically contracts the

production of all its brews.

It is the desire of the author of this brand audit report that the information is both

informational and useful for the continued success of D.G. Yuengling and Sons.


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Brand Inventory

Through five generations we have remained unique among breweries, distinguished by

our culture, heritage, traditions and portfolio of brands. Now the sixth generation is actively

learning the business from the ground floor up.

Dick Yuengling, Jr.

Fifth Generation

President and Owner

D.G. Yuengling & Sons

Brand Organization and Positioning

Brewing beer in the United States has been a tough business. Many breweries, small and large,

have come and gone. Some have been purchased and absorbed into mega-breweries, Belgium’s

Anheuser-Busch and British controlled Miller Coors.

As noted in the D.G. Yuengling PR kit:

In spite of the demise of countless breweries throughout the country, the ever-popular Yuengling

Brewery survives as a thriving business and historic treasure. It owes its ongoing success to a

remarkable combination of pride and determination, tradition and innovation. This is evident in

the quality products produced throughout Yuengling’s challenging history. (Yuengling, 2013)


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D.G. Yuengling and Sons have positioned their brewery as, stated in their mission statement, as

America’s Oldest Brewery:

(Yuengling, 2013).

The flagship product is the Yuengling Traditional Lager (YTL) as shown below, front and

center, with the company’s 8 other beer brands, 6 of which are shown on either side of the

traditional lager:


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The focus of this brand audit is on the Yuengling Traditional Lager (YTL), however, the other

Yuengling brands are briefly discussed briefly below:


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(Yuengling, 2013, p.10).

While each of these brands have its distinctive flavor and market positioning, the

Yuengling Traditional Lager, introduced November 1, 1987 (Noon, 2007, p.

3134) has become the company’s best seller. “..its flagship offering, Yuengling Traditional

Lager, a medium-body brew, was the best-selling super-premium beer and the fifteenth most-

popular beer total in the U.S. in 2011” according to Beverage Information Group (Coffey, 2012).


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For the purposes of this brand inventory audit, comparison will be made between the YTL, the

number 3 ranked 2012 beer, Budweiser Lager and number 15th ranked, Pabst Blue Ribbon

(PBR) Lager, which is Yuengling’s (at 16th for 2012) closest ranked competitor.

Figure 1 US Beer Industry Key Shipments Data - Brands

(Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS, 2013)


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An interesting point, however, Yuengling appears on both the US Beer Industries listings of

Major Brands (16th) and the list of Specialty Brewers (1st). Where the Yuengling Traditional

Lager is ranked overall at 16th of all major brands, it is the biggest of the small specialty brewers

(Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS, 2013). A great position to be in, it is big enough to compete with

the major breweries, but still small enough to be run by the owner, Dick Yuengling, Jr. So

overall, where it only has a small 1.1 overall market share, it shows (2012) a 10% growth trend.


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Figure 2 Small Specialty Brewer and Brewpub Shipments 2008-2012


“While U.S. beer consumption fell 1.3 percent in 2011 to 2.78 billion cases, the super-premium,

craft beer and malt beverage segment grew almost eight percent, according to Beverage

Information Group” (Coffey, 2012). So where the major brands have seen losses in recent years,

the smaller US breweries such as Yuengling and Boston Beer (Sam Adams) are showing double

digit growth (Coffey, 2012). Amazingly, the CEO of Boston Beer, Jim Koch has praise for Dick

Yuengling and his methods, as he stated in a phone interview “For years, people thought they


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were smarter than Dick and told him to do things differently. He never did, and for 27 years he

has proved them wrong” (Coffey, 2012). One of those decisions back in the late 80’s was to hone

in on the brand images and the “Oldest Brewery” theme with the eagle logo. “Yuengling’s

marketers have made it a point to make sure that every label, box, and point-of-sale item contains

the eagle logo” (Noon, 2007, p. 3177)

Company attitudes and perceptions against competitive set

Brand Elements

Dick Yuengling has been proudly declaring Yuengling is “America’s Oldest Brewery”

for years. In 1958, with the demise of Boston Beer Company (not affiliated with Sam Adams)

Yuengling became “America’s Oldest Brewery” and the company has been using the slogan

since that time (Noon, 2007, p. 3006). This has provided consistent memorability (Keller, 2012,

p. 143) for the Yuengling Lager for over 55 years. The brewery’s Americana approach has

helped make the Yuengling Lager high on the likeability factor – not just for the brew itself – but

the brand association with the mom-and-apple-pie feeling the brand exudes.

Brand Associations

These days, the advertising for Yuengling Lager continues to build on the oldest

American brewery theme. Every label speaks the image of tradition and American historical

values:


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(Yuengling Lager Label, n.d.) (Budweiser, 2014)

American eagle, Traditional, America’s Oldest Brewery – a label wrought with American ideals,

driving home the fact of a made in America product – one where the company’s owner, the

company name, and the beer all are the same. Budweiser is just plain with just the name on the

bottle and claim “King of the Beers”. Of course, Budweiser shipped almost 17 million barrels

compared to Yuengling’s 2.2 million barrels (2012), more than 9 times as much beer for a 7.9%

market share vs. Yuengling’s 1.1% share. Yet, compared to the 21st Budweiser image, there is a

lot more story behind each Yuengling Lager label- and that story seems to be helping the lager

grow in sales.

Company perceptions

“’We stay nuts and bolts -- we make beer,’ Yuengling, 69, said in an interview last month

on the floor of his brewery in Pottsville” (Coffey, 2012). The basic approach, not flashy women

but an American tradition – the slow and steady course the product has maintained.


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Brand imagery

Figure 3 Yuengling.com

There is so much American imagery and tradition around the Yuengling Lager (and

company) – it is the primary communication integrated throughout all its brands and

presentations. “Since 1956, the phrase “America’s Oldest Brewery” had appeared on

Yuengling’s products” (Noon, 2007, p. 3391) As being a truly American brewery (not a Belgium

or British beer conglomerate) even though it isn’t the largest seller in the US marketplace, it is

the largest purely American brewery.

Brand performance

The Yuengling Lager has had steady double digit growth rates over the last several years

and shows no signs of slowing down. Budweiser has had negative (-5.1% trend) growth

while Pabst is showing excellent growth, barely staying ahead of Yuengling with only 650,000

more barrels in 2012 :


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(Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS, 2013).

Still, Pabst will be quite a challenge for Yuengling since its sales and popularity have

been growing and it has a 17.2% trend vs. Yuengling’s 10%.

Brand personality

Yuengling Traditional Lager is more closely related to the craft beers and smaller local

beer in its taste and consumption. Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon are more traditional

American adjunct lagers. Still, in the supermarkets (in WV) you will see the cases of Yuengling

mixed in with the Budweiser, Pabst, and of course the leaders Bud Light and Coors Light. So

while it has a more traditional full-bodied lager taste, it competes in the cooler with the top

sellers. The other more craft oriented beers are all placed in groupings of their own.

In a discussion with a local beer distributor (Kroger’s, Earl Core Drive, Morgantown WV @

10:30 AM on May 5, 2014) he confirmed all of the Yuengling brands were placed with the Coors

and Budweiser and Pabst in the cooler. He also stated that Yuengling does quite well in the

Morgantown area, but Bud Light, by far is the biggest seller. Of course, this anecdotal

observation and conversation was with one beer distributor in one Kroger store in West Virginia.

Still, although the driver carried all the popular brands, it was interesting that he was wearing a

Yuengling shirt.

In the cooler, where there is one row of Yuengling Traditional Lager (30cans), with a

stack of about 8 cases priced at $17.59 per case (on sale), there are 8 rows of 6 cases of #1

selling Bud Light (30 cans) priced at $20.69 (on sale), Budweiser (30 cans) has 3 rows of 6

cases also priced at $20.69 (on sale) and Pabst Blue Ribbon (30 cans) had only one row of 6

cases priced at $16.39 (regular price). In summary, this pricing on May 9, 2014 was as follows:


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Beer (30 can case) Morgantown Kroger’s Price

Yuengling $17.59 (sale)

Bud Light (#1 seller) $20.69 (sale)

Budweiser $20.69 (sale)

Pabst Blue Ribbon $16.39 (regular)

Overall, Yuengling is competitively priced against the leading beers (Bud Light, Coors

Light, and Budweiser) and also close to Pabst Blue Ribbon. It was placed in the area near the top

selling American adjunct lagers and to the other side, the mostly craft beers.

Yuengling is competitively priced against the leading beers (Bud Light, Coors Light, and

Budweiser) and also close to Pabst Blue Ribbon.


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Competitive Environment

(Dowling, 2013).

As shown earlier in Figure 1, Yuengling Traditional Lager is ranked 16th Budweiser was

3rd, and Pabst Blue Ribbon was 15th with very strong growth. However, in the above Established

Growth Brands chart, YTL shows 4.8% better growth (2011-2012) over Pabst Blue Ribbon, and

of course, since Budweiser has had negative growth, it doesn’t even appear on the chart.

Yet, Budweiser at almost 17 million barrels, a small decline is nothing compared to

Yuengling’s much smaller 2.5 million barrels. Budweiser has 7.9 market share vs. Yuengling’s

1.1 – almost 8 times as many barrels of beer per year – 17 million bbl. vs. 2.25 million bbl. Still,

as can be seen above, Yuengling’s Annual Compound Growth Rate is 12.4% (although PBR


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shows a 14.2% ACGR). This is quite impressive since it is almost 17 million barrels of

Budweiser versus 12.4% of Yuengling’s 2.25 million barrels. Yes, there is a better overall

improved growth for Yuengling Traditional Lager, but this is still minimal total. Pabst Blue

Ribbon is basically neck and neck with Yuengling (separated by only 100’s of thousands of

barrels) so Pabst would make the most likely first target for competition, however, both PBR and

YTL together still have a long way to go to really impact Budweiser’s 17 million barrels in

distribution.

Points of Parity

Being a part of the overall distribution network is key to a label’s success. As an

example, Yuengling had been available in Massachusetts up until 1993 when it decided to “exit

the state” (Furnari, 2013). As with other competing products, it is the relationship the company

builds with the distributors as Furnari observed the “company representatives had recently met

with several potential distributor partners, including Atlas Distributing, which is based in

Auburn, Mass. and had flown a “Welcome Yuengling” sign for the visit” (2013). So it is through

this courting the distributors that the company’s success depends.

Since liquor distribution around the USA is very regulated it is through these distributors

(who also distribute Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon, among others – including

Massachusetts’s popular home state brews from Boston Brewery, Sam Adams) Yuengling must

coordinate and market to. ‘“When you go into a new market, you always want to set benchmarks

and hold people accountable for those expectations,” Casinelli [Yuengling’s COO] said. “There

is nothing etched in stone, but there is an expectation to hit big in Massachusetts”’ (Furnari,

2014). So in mid-March of this year, 2014, Yuengling returned to Massachusetts to compete with

Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, all the other major brands from Anheuser-Busch, Miller Coors,

imports, and over 147 craft brews (Beer Distribution Map, 2014)


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“To recapture the momentum, the famously slow-to-expand company is finally moving into new

territory, and if things go well, Casinelli has hinted, it may end up using Massachusetts as

strategic springboard into the rest of the Northeast” (Furnari, 2014). This process is the same for

all breweries wishing to distribute their products. It will be up to Yuengling’s talent in working

with the distributors. The hope is to capture at least 5% of the market since, in Massachusetts,

“The state’s top five suppliers — Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, Crown Imports, Boston Beer

Company and Heineken USA – collectively made 80 percent of the beer sold in Massachusetts

through the first six months of 2013 “(Furnari, 2014).

Points of Differences

Yuengling, as a company has little debt and choses to distribute only in 16 US states

(lower distribution costs). Also, selling a lot more draft beer, with bigger margins and 30% of its

business, overall, combine to make Yuengling a lot more profitable. Plus, with only 9 total beer

varieties (vs. literally dozens upon dozens of Anheuser-Busch / Miller Coors brands) Yuengling

is much more lean and profitable and can grow as it chooses to grow (Coffey, 2012). However,

the product is hindered from national distribution by this same limited distribution. The

company, as a whole, is doing very well in the market it occupies, but clearly further expansion

and revenue is dependent on a much broader availability.

While Yuengling employs many of the same marketing tactics as other breweries, unlike

Anheuser-Busch InBev, with a $1.5 billion marketing budget (Parsons, 2012), Yuengling relies

on some of its more traditional tactics. As Noon observed “Yuengling promoted itself heavily at

“point of sale” contacts, local events, trade shows, and product samplings” (2007). So while the

major mega-breweries, with their products such as Budweiser have a billion dollars plus in their

advertising coffers, Yuengling takes a more grassroots approach, expands slowly, takes their


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brew to the people. In the areas it is available, it does quite well. Amazingly, as discussed

earlier, the Yuengling products at the local West Virginia Kroger’s sit there mixed in with the

same products that have billions of advertising expense behind them, not just stuck in a small

corner of the cooler. Still, until Yuengling can expand to a more national distribution, it will be

limited in sales and volume by just the smaller population it serves.

Figure 4 Yuengling’s distribution (2014) and brewery locations


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Alcohol Consumer Trends

In a 2013 Gallup poll, Jones noted “Younger drinkers most likely to have shifted

preferences away from beer.” This is an interesting demographic, especially in light of the

billions of dollars Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors spend trying to convince them with sexy

women and huge draught horses. At least in this poll, it shows the age of beer drinkers are

declining for all age groups except the Baby Boomers, where there is a slight increase.

The shift between beer, wine and liquor clearly show preferences moving toward wine

and liquor for those under 30 drinkers. This also may explain the flat or negative sales of many

of the brews. “That continues the trend in which beer has declined as the preferred beverage of


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U.S. drinkers, shrinking its advantage over wine from 20 percentage points in 1992 to one point

today” (Jones, 2013). This trend is clearly shown in the graph below:

(Jones, 2013)

This will be further discussed under the Recommendations section and is an important

factor to keep in mind. Who is the customer Yuengling should target? Most likely older

Americans. Still, even with the massiveness of the Baby Boomer generation, it is hugely

outweighed by the combined group of 18 to 50 year-olds. So all drinkers from age 18 and older

should be pursued in marketing. Therefore, campaigns and promotions should still have broad

appeal, but in some cases, maybe lean a little more toward the older American beer drinkers.

Brand Exploratory

There is no shortage of reviews of beers on the Internet. While there are some that are

just completely off-the-wall, some completely biased strongly for or against, and some that are

probably fairly representative, it would be an exhaustive study just to compile the reviews for


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this report. Therefore, the following is just a brief sample of comments from two online sources:

1) BeerAdvocate.com 2) RateBeer.com.

Products and Services

Yuengling produces a family of 9 different beers. For the purposes of this exploratory,

the focus will be on their number 1 selling flagship brand, Yuengling Traditional Lager.

(Yuengling Traditional Lager, 2014)

While the other beers offered by Yuengling target specific competitive areas, by far, in the USA,

according to Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS, it is the top 20 brands of lagers and light lagers that

capture the majority (~72%) of the market (2013). Therefore, it is within that area this

exploratory will review.

Consumer perceptions

With the ubiquitous nature of the Internet and people looking for opinions on most

everything, there is literally thousands of comments and ratings on Yuengling and other beers.

For comparison sake, I will be using two other lagers, Budweiser, ranked number 3, and Pabst


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Blue Ribbon, ranked number 15 just ahead of Yuengling at number 16. These two competitive

brands were chosen since they are not a light or low calorie beer, but instead, typical American

adjunct (other grains added) lagers.

BeerAdvocate.com appears to be one of the more reputable sites and has been around

since the 90’s. There is information from their about page below:

According to their own ratings (Bros) and User ratings and reviews, Yuengling Traditional Lager

is fairly well liked:


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As can be seen from the above rating, the brothers, Jason and Todd have given a Good rating

(80) and the 4,143 user rating is Okay (78). Compared to the other two lagers, Budweiser and

Pabst Blue Ribbon, this is a good score, as can be seen by the similar scoring below:

Whereas the Alström brothers give Budweiser the same Good rating (80), the 3,950 ratings of

those participating on the Beer Advocate website give it a score of 56 for Awful. Pabst fares a

little better, Poor, from 3,725 website participants and even better Good (83) rating form the

Alström brothers compared to both Budweiser and Yuengling.

Some of the comments on Budweiser were as follows:


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What follows are comments from some of the 3,725 ratings of Pabst:


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Sample Yuengling Beer Reviewer Comments

Some of the comments on Yuengling Traditional Lager are shown below:


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Yuengling Traditional Lager is making competitive gains as mentioned in the audit

inventory. Choosing and liking a beer comes down to a personal preference – just like the Coke

or Pepsi, Ford or Chevy, thick crust or thin crust – everyone has their own tastes, and fortunately

for Dick Yuengling and his family, it appears there are plenty of people who like the beer to help

it to continue to grow. As other beer critics have concluded, “Drinkability: I’ll bet most people

who drink Yuengling do it more for performance than aesthetic value, which is completely

understandable “ (Polenz, 2014).

RateBeer.com shows the overall ratings of Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Yuengling

as follows:


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These overall ratings are lower than BeerAdvocate.com, but do represent thousands of

responses and overall scores show Yuengling is the highest of the three at 27. Yet, if one adds in

Sam Adams from ratebeer.com, it is significantly higher than all of them at 66:


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Class Survey

The following represents a compilation of comments from the IMC613 class members

when questioned on their beer drinking preferences:

Drink beer

(Brand)?

Aware of

Yuengling?

Occasion

for beer

drinking?

Beer choice

factors

Demo’s

P1 Yes; Michelob

Ultra or Coors

Light or Bud Light

Yes Just a part of

life

Draft/bar/price 67/Male

P2 Used to – no longer Yes Social

Birthdays,

etc.

Taste/price 36/Female

P3 Not usually;

Budweiser

No Social

occasions

25/Female

P4 Usually do not

drink beer

Yes Super Bowl;

Out with

friends

Cheap 22/Female

P5 No No 30/Male

P6 No No Female

P7 No No Female

P8 Yes; Michelob

Ultra or Coors

Light

Yes Family get-

togethers;

friends at

Taste; Low

Calorie

24/Female


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bar; around

fire pit

P9 Yes; Miller Lite;

Yuengling

Yes Time with

friends;

homework

completion

Taste and

Variety

49/Male

P10 Yes; Blue Moon Yes Social

Settings

Flavor 25/Male

P11 Yes; Craft beers;

Magic Hat

Yes Socially and

holidays

Craft brews and

taste

26/Female

P12 Yes; Blue Moon;

Miller Light

Yes Going out

with the

guys; some

summer

holidays;

just enjoy

beer

Taste 32/Male

P13 Yes; Yuengling;

Heineken; Fosters;

Dos XX

Yes With meals;

at parties

Taste 64/Male

Some statistics from the survey:

• Roughly 69% of all participants had heard of Yuengling.

• 100% of all participants (7) claiming to be current beer drinkers had heard of Yuengling.

• Of those claiming to drink and or used to drink beer, social occasions were the most

frequent occasion to drink.

• Beer choice responses (9) listed taste most frequently (6) and price (3).

• Of all the respondents, 83% of males drink beer; 29% females drink beer.

• 29% of the beer drinkers drink Yuengling.


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Brand Elements

Memorability

Even the small sample survey revealed that 69% of the participants had heard of

Yuengling. This even includes several individuals who do not even drink beer. Since Yuengling

is only available in 16 US areas, 1)Pennsylvania, 2)Ohio, 3)New Jersey, 4)New York,

5)Delaware, 6)Maryland, 7)Washington DC, 8)Virginia, 9)West Virginia, 10)Tennessee,

11)North Carolina, 12)South Carolina, 13)Georgia, 14)Florida, 15)Alabama and

16)Massachusetts (FAQ, 2014), the fact that it has done as well as it has with recent growth is

quite amazing. The following map shows the current (2014) distribution (in green) of Yuengling

products in the USA:


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(nickd717, 2014)

Meaningfulness

As an alternative to the mega-brewery brews from Anheuser-Busch and Miller Coors,

Yuengling Traditional Lager provides a meaningful choice for customers who do not care for the

more watery, American adjunct lagers. Along with Boston Beer’s Sam Adams and literally

hundreds of other craft brews, the more full bodied tastes of these beers has slowly been shifting

the tastes for American adjunct lagers – a fact that can be noticed by the number of more

traditional lagers the major breweries now make themselves to compete against the more full

bodied lagers and craft beers.

Likeability

As many of the reviewers from Beer Advocate have stated, Yuengling is a brand that has

some very likeable characteristics. With many people looking more to craft beers or other

alternatives to the typical American adjunct lager, Yuengling brings that type of beer to

consumers at an affordable price. In bars, supermarkets, and beer distribution stores, Yuengling

is always priced in line with the other American brews such as Budweiser and Pabst Blue

Ribbon.

Transferability

The Yuengling Traditional Lager is the flagship brew, however, the brand has been

extended to six other brews as shown below:


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Additionally, Yuengling produces a Bock beer and an Oktoberfest product and has used its name

in making of ice cream (http://www.yuenglingsicecream.com/ ) during prohibition and still has

ice cream today.

Adaptability

One of the key positives about Yuengling as a company is its corporate structure. It is a

family owned, private business. It has plenty of cash on hand and can adapt to its needs quite

rapidly – both in the delivery of product and change of direction. It has its distribution set to the

level it chooses, and can always add more locations as it sees fit.

Protectability

Unlike Anheuser-Busch, a public company, Yuengling does not need to fear the takeover

by some foreign company. This, along with the family ownership allows for the company to

protect itself from outsiders and protect its products by keeping the product line with the beers

they wish to have – not changes decided by a corporate boardroom.

http://www.yuenglingsicecream.com/


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Summary

In summary, most of the above comments on Yuengling place it well above Budweiser

and Pabst Blue Ribbon. They like many of its qualities – from the amber color, small head to a

smooth, crisp and refreshing taste. While there are outliers at both ends, the middle reviews are

definitely the majority and the overall scores from comments at both BeerAdvocate.com and

RateBeer.com clearly point to Yuengling, even if the sales show the huge gap between

Yuengling and Budweiser and a much closer gap, but still a gap, between Yuengling and Pabst.

All in all, in the USA, it really is a matter of smaller distribution areas vs. larger availability of

Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Brand Recommendations

For the 16 state market area it serves, Yuengling Traditional Lager has performed

extremely well. As discussed earlier, it has shown, and is continuing to show strong growth,

over 10% per year trend, even though the beer market as a whole has been declining and/or flat

for the last several years. Growth of the brand will rely on a lot of operational issues, which

while out of scope for this report, need to be briefly discussed to set the stage for the overall

brand recommendations.

Distribution

The beer industry is built on distribution. Unless the product is available, it cannot sell.

While the 16 states Yuengling currently sells in represent a significant portion of the USA

population, ~133 million out of ~309 million or roughly 43% of the USA population (Wikipedia,

2014). So if Yuengling currently sells ~2.5 million barrels of Yuengling Traditional Lager

annually, if the company can do just as well with the entire USA population, that 2.5 million


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barrels would more than double to roughly 6.1 million barrels Yuengling Traditional Lager

annually. Looking at the table of 2012 barrels sold, figure 1, which would move Yuengling from

16th to a fairly solid 8th ranking just above Busch.

Therefore, operationally, Yuengling would need to expand its distribution. One

recommendation would be for a 5-year plan to expand to the rest of New England and Midwest

as shown in green on the map below:


39 | P a g e

This expansion would require at least one more new brewery in the Midwest, proposed to

be completed by 2018. As a part of this overall operational recommendation, certain teams

would have to be built to also handle the expansion. Some of these teams would be:

• Distribution advance teams to sign up local distributors

• Brewery construction advance teams to find and negotiate locations for additional

brewery or breweries

• Integrated Marketing and Communications team for working from the current regional

to national promotion of Yuengling products

It is this last team that the following recommendations will be focused on.

Integrated Marketing and Communications

As mentioned earlier, the age of beer drinkers has increased over the years. While there

is a huge under 50 segment of the population that consume billions of barrels annually, it appears

that the average age of the beer consumer is increasing. With this in mind, marketing needs to

not focus on just the under 50 people as is obvious in the major brands marketing, but also

consider the over 50 demographic.

Yuengling’s current marketing plays well into this with their “America’s Oldest

Brewery” and many of its old world and craftsman images. Also, the made in America theme

and associated Americana link well to the traditional approach. Just a brief look at their website

and one immediately sees this theme:


40 | P a g e

(Yuengling, 2014)

Lots of wood, old world look, tradition, the website carries the theme quite well.

The connect with Facebook takes you to an opportunity to take a little personality quiz, again

with buttons that look as if they were from an old general store:


41 | P a g e

Great way to capture some basic psychodemographics about Facebook visitors.

Strategy: Social media marketing

(NextAdvisor, 2013)


42 | P a g e

Just a brief look at children and teenagers these days in malls, schools, or on public

transportation immediately shows to what extent they are plugged-in to music, texting, and the

Internet. Overall 81% usage as shown by the above infographic. Yet, adults also are at a 72%

usage level, so they are also targets for media messages if messages are presented on the right

media platform. As shown above, teens are the major consumers of Facebook and Twitter,

however, adults are much more active on Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

Yuengling has quite a presence on Pinterest as can be seen below from a simple search on

Yuengling:

(Pinterest search, 2014)

Continued and expansive use of Pinterest and other social media sites with a coordinated

Yuengling promotion is an obvious recommendation in today’s media world.

Tactics:


43 | P a g e

• Continue social media presence, however, recognize that Facebook and Twitter attract

younger audiences and remember beer drinkers seem to be aging.

• Increase Yuengling presence on Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

• Continue “Oldest American Brewery” themes on social media sites with the addition of

American History tie-ins from 1829 forward

• “What beer would your grandpa drink?” Discussion/contest to promote the older aged

beer drinker

Strategy: We’re coming to your state campaign

As part of the overall expansion to neighboring states, a campaign can be built with data from the

recent expansion back into Massachusetts from lessons learned and successful promotions.

Tactics:

• On social media, have countdowns running with months, weeks, days until Yuengling

will be in x state

• Billboards promoting the “Oldest American Brewery” is coming to your state border

roads

• Yuengling commercials on radio stations that broadcast near state borders announcing

“Now you no longer have to drive to x state to get your beer!”

• Have Dick Yuengling (or his daughters) appear on talk shows and talk about their story

and how they will soon be offering their product in x state.

Strategy: Grassroots promotions and existing and new events


44 | P a g e

Yuengling has already proven itself successful at grassroots promotions and the efforts

should be extended.

Tactics:

• Bowling alley promotions – Yuengling sponsorship of bowling teams and leagues.

Yuengling needs to become the beer of bowlers

• Sporting events that allow alcohol should always have Yuengling available as an

alternative to the most popular American adjunct lagers

• Colleges and Universities that allow alcohol to be sold in their stadiums need Yuengling

on tap

• Auto racing and motorcycle racing should always have at least one Yuengling sponsored

driver or rider

• Major / Minor league baseball parks should have Yuengling draft available

• Marathon or bicycling events should have Yuengling sponsorships and booths when

available

Strategy: Your Renaissance Fair Sponsored Grog

Tactics:

• In character with the theme of the fair, serve Yuengling as the fair’s grog

• Any other historical regional event, especially 19th century related, Yuengling needs to be

present for consumption

• Promotion of historical manufacturing in the USA wherever and whenever possible,

further linking the historical aspects of the “Oldest American Brewery” theme

Conclusion


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The Yuengling brand has had steady and significant growth since Dick Yuengling took

over the brewery in 1985. This sustained growth of his family business stands as a testament to

the American culture and the ingenuity and work ethic of Americans. He, his family, and the

company as a whole should be congratulated on keeping with basic, sound work ethics and

progressing in a highly competitive highly automated industry. With continued effort, some

expansion and continued use of modern media and social outreach, the company should continue

to grow and thrive.

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Documents

Yuengling Traditional Lager Brand AuditW Grant Normam Brand Audit wgnorman.com 7 | P a g e (Yuengling, 2013, p.10). While each of these brands have its distinctive flavor and market