The Marketing Environment - D.G. Yuengling & Son

The Marketing Environment - D.G. Yuengling & Son

D.G. Yuengling is a family owned business that is also the oldest brewery in the United States. It is located in Pottsville, PA and is the fifth-largest brewery in the nation. It is well-known on the eastern coast. It is a business to business good by providing a lager that is purchased by distributors and then sold to bars and stores to be sold to the consumer. The distributors purchase large quantities to provide a good supply to the next purchaser.

The marketing environments that have affected the business are primarily the Political / Legal / Regulatory environment and the economic environment. Their competitive market approach may never exceed Anheuser-Busch, Miller, or Coors but their goal is not to become too big too fast.

D.G. Yuengling have been around since1829 and survived a fire after 2 years of operation and the government ban of its product during prohibition. During this time they made ice cream and "near beer" (a non-alcoholic beer) to help maintain the name and brand recognition. During this time period of 13 years, many of the regional breweries had gone under, however; when the 18th Amendment was repealed, Yuengling sent a truckload of a new beer "Winner Beer" to President Roosevelt.

This brewery being the oldest in the nation, it has managed to avoid risk when possible and out-of-control growth. Because of this it has managed to keep overhead costs low, and outlast many local breweries. This company has been consistent by not growing and by saturating one market then moving on to the next. It crafts an inexpensive brew in a receding economy. When trying to expand the market to more areas in the east it had to retrieve due to not being able to meet the demand. They then brainstormed ideas to grow that wouldn't be a major investment of the earnings they had been making. Each new generation has found a way to expand its company's outreach without overextending its resources. The most recent Yuengling, Dick Jr., is no different than his predecessors, with keeping a rein on the money spent, however; he was confident in the their ability to grow and took a chance by allowing a new brewery to be built. While that was being constructed, the Stroh's plant in Tampa became available and with staff still intact and a large barrel capacity, the facility would use that plant while construction was going on in Pottsville. However, the most important marketing aspect was it put Yuengling into a market that they had had an eye on for several years.

Because of the growth, the marketing strategies are changing. They have decided to stay primarily on the East Coast, by doing a market-by-market and word-of-mouth marketing strategy.

D.G. Yuengling has been around for over 175 years, and its success is due to the lack of growth and avoiding risk. This company survived Prohibition