Mountain Man

Mountain Man Beer Case Study Assignment

1. What has made the Mountain Man Brewing Company successful?

Mountain Man is a family owned company that has had one core product since its inception in 1925. They have consistently and successfully targeted a distinct market: middle class, blue collar males. The company has built brand awareness with its target audience, and this has been a key to the brand’s success. Market research has shown that the brand is as recognizable as Chevrolet and John Deere in the East Central region of the United States. This brand awareness has created strong brand loyalty from the company’s customers. Many working class males who drink Mountain Man Lager strongly identify themselves with the brand. Another key to the company’s success has been the perceived quality of the product. The beer uses distinctive ingredients that separate it from its competitors.

What distinguishes it from competitors?

Mountain Man Lager uses a meticulous selection of rare Bavarian hops and unusual strains of barley. This combination has created a distinctive, flavorful, bitter tasting beer, which is very distinguishable when compared to competitors’ products. In addition to the taste of the product, the brand has developed a very loyal following from its customer base, most notably in West Virginia where it has become known as “West Virginia’s beer”. The company has successfully linked its product to the mindset of its consumers.

What is distinctive about MMBC’s product and customers?

In addition to the distinctive taste of Mountain Man Lager, the product is packaged in a dark brown bottle that displays an image of West Virginian coal miners on the label. Market research has shown that the product has established attributes such as authenticity, quality, and a unique West Virginia “toughness”. The product’s core customers identify with many of these attributes.

2. What about these factors enabled MMBC to create such a strong...