Generation X and Beer Marketing

Generation X and Beer Marketing

3/14/2011

Introduction

The Beer industry is a very strong and quickly growing industry in the United States. There are many different size manufactures, from the local hometown brewer to your major corporation such as Anheuser-Busch and Miller Corporation. Beer has been brewed for nearly 8000 years as far as historians can account for. The meaning of the word beer originally came from a Latin word which means "to drink" and since its creation the marketing for beer manufactures has been a very important and progressively creative and scientific part of improving their sales nationwide. Generation X is one of the important generations at the forefront of consumption in the beer industry. Gen X is of course, not the sole consumer of beer; just about all generations enjoy beer of many styles, from craft beer which is generally a small sector but a rapidly growing part of the beer industry to the heavy weight major manufactures of beer which everyone has heard of a time or two such as Budweiser and Miller corporation. Overall the market for beer is tremendous and there is much profit to be made and room to expand much larger than it currently is today.

The Beer market is at approximately $14 billion and slowly rising, since the economic crisis back in 2009 which had created a downturn in sales and then became worse with the introduction of many different taxes which hurt the industry further which then created a need to increase the price of beer in return. With those problems came the need to better the marketing campaign to improve sales and expand marketing to reach as many people to improve the sales of beer and improve and better the levels of the past worldwide.

Gen X the Consumer

Generation X is fairly small in comparison to other generations and in ways hard to determine generation for marketing through generations. Demographics is like a science within marketing and there is a devotion to figuring out the behavior of these groups such as Gen X and figuring out all there common qualities even though there is a diversity within them. Megan Van Someren, director of strategic planning at marketing and advertising agency Wunderman, names three consumer drivers as essential for engaging Generation X: "creative appreciation, relevance and convenience, and sense of community". Companies need to push the boundaries of creativity. Generation X is an active group of consumers, according to Van Someren. In discussing Generation X as consumers and as businesspeople, one topic has been lying just underneath the surface of all the others which they state is loyalty which is an extremely important factor, especially considering Generation X's reputation of being incredibly disloyal to brands and companies. Loyalty is very important within the industry of beer so gaining awareness to your brand is a must in order to keep improving your sales and maintaining a certain level as well.

Progression of Beer through the years

The Can of beer was first created in January 24, 1935 and the name of the beer was "Krueger Cream Ale" and the brewer which sold it was the Kruger Brewing Company which was located in Richmond VA. Today all the major brewers produce can beer but the majority of craft brewers use bottle beer because they do not produce the quantities that the major brewers produce and the shelf life is longer with the bottle as well.

Today beer is created in just about all countries across the world and many cultures have created their own version, each with a little twist of their own when it comes to the ingredients that they throw together.

It is said that beer was one of the very first alcoholic beverages touched by the human mouth. There is no solid proof but many tails that have been written. The creation of beer is almost a science and has been toyed with and altered many times through the centuries.

The Africans in early ages created a blend of beer using such grains as, maze, cassava and a grain called millet which became very popular among their country, then a very unique blend that was created way back in 1876 and named for the city which it originated from; Sapporo, Japan and brought to the United States in 1964 which is very popular among many Americans today and their marketing of it has changed through the centuries to become one of the largest brewers in Japan.

Today although the United States is not the leading country in the consumption of beer; which China takes that spot, the United States is second with 50 Billion pints consumed each year.

Where Beer is today?

Even though the popularity of wine and fancy mixed drinks which are referred to as "designer drinks" such a martinis and the like are expanding and putting a competitive run on the sales of beer and effecting the consumption numbers of beer, by pushing it down slightly, to counter act those threats there are new trends in the brewing industry which is helping with the progression and popularity of the wonderful beverage of beer. These such changes and additions to the industry include improving the micro-brewery experience by creating restaurants with the brewery contained within the restaurant which the consumer purchases there beer directly from the brewing equipment within the establishment that it is produced and are able to purchase their favorite flavor to take home in different blends and quantities such as 6 and 24 packs to-go. Consumers that are interested in the process of brewing really appreciate the ability to actually see their product being made while eating and having an enjoyable experience with their friends and actually see how there beverage is produced.

The Market for Beer

Budweiser, Coors and Miller companies have had a very long and competitive battle in hopes of both beating one another in sales and consumption of the precious beverage that many love and drawing in different generations for more than the last 25 years and have spent unheard of advertising money and potential revenue in doing so. There results have not been as expected with both, extreme raises and drops in the numbers for as many years. The big three (Bud, Miller, Coors) in brewing have been in search of drawing in the beer money from many different generations including Generation X which is currently a big consumer of beer along with Generation Y which are currently known to experiment with those "Designer beverages" as we talked about earlier in this