Carlton Draught

INTRODUCTION

     Carlton Draught is one the fastest growing Australian beers in Victoria and Australia. Carlton Draught is one of the best pale lager beers in the world. It is in fact one of the best selling tap beers in Australia. Specifically, they are sold mostly in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia and outside Australia. The following paragraphs will explain this paragraph in detail. 

BODY

• Current Situation: An update of the history, which may include market shares/ success measures and target market/s definition.

     Carlton Draught is the no. 1 beer in Australia today. The Carlton Draught comes in both the 375ml can and the 750 ml long neck bottles. Its secret beer formula has been to innovate in order to reduce its alcohol percentage. The reduce volume is from five percent to only four and 6/10 percent in order to reduce payment for alcohol taxes. The company’s logo had also gone through a metamorphosis bringing in a new one that would symbolize the new Australian society. The company has also increased its advertising budget in order to encroach into very large uncharted beer market segments that had not yet been untouched by Carlton Draught marketers both locally and outside Australia. Carton Draught is made just like other normal Australian beers. An Australian beer is made with the implementation of the wortstream beer brewing process. This process includes permeation of some material amount of sugar cane that would reduce the beer’s mixture. This Australian mixture was what most of the Australian beer drinkers were looking for in a beer. Marketing strategy includes selling high quality products like Carlton Draught to fill the needs of consumers(Baker,2002,656).

    The reason for Carlton Draught’s reaching no. 1 in the Australian draught beer market is it use of the Viral marketing method of advertising. A viral marketing strategy is characterized by the use of social networks or mouth to mouth advertisements to spread the news of the advantages of drinking a can of Carlton Draught. Viral marketing includes spreading the news of the new Carlton Draught through news letters, articles, message boards and the like. The goal of the advertisers is to seek the voluntary help of persons who have a large network of contacts to spread the advantages of drinking the company’s product, Carlton Draught(Chaston,1999,60).

• The Brand’s Category and its Competitors: Collect evidence of the Brand’s positioning and that of its nearest rival(s).

     Carlton Draught is a tap beer. Its competitors are nowhere to be found. For it is the no. one beer in the Victoria Australian draught market. In fact, the Fosters’ beer brands are the best known in the Northern Australian territory. The Foster beers are the Victoria Bitter o VB, the Melbourne Bitter and the Carlton Draught. The local residents here can easily identity the foster beers by their colour. The colours are green, blue, red and white. The other popular beers in the same Northern Australian territory are the Tooheys Red, Carlton Cod, Diamond Draught and the low alcohol content beers namely Tooheys Blue and Lite, the Blue Bock and the Old Black Ale which are the brainchild of Tooheys(Farfor et al.,2003,73).

      Carlton Draught used to be one of sponsors of the Australian Football League until it was replaced by Toyota. It is advertised as brewed sun –ripened Australian barley malt hopped with Carlton’s own special ‘Pride’ variety of hops to ensure a more emphatic harmony of the ingredients. It is being marketed as a beer that has a truly refreshing -after taste. It is also being introduced to the beer drinking market segment  to reduce the hot chili flavor and complement one’s favorite food choice.

    Carlton Draught has increased to 13 percent and got 7% of the beer market in 2003. Its closes rival is Toohey’s  Extra Dry with a market share is very negligible at  only 0.5 %.

• Analysis of the collected evidence – analysis of any advertisements, the fit between all elements of the brand’s communication

      Carlton Draught produced its The Big Ad campaign in 2005. It has been viewed 3.5 million times in the internet. It has big music, about 300 characters, and a larger than life scenery. The yellow men represent the Carlton Draught beer that is swallowed by red men who represent the human body. This Carlton Draught won over thirty global awards. It also won the prestigious 53^rd Cannes Advertising Festival awards in 2006 with a Gold Lion Prize.

Ref: BIG AD <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8885159090946272441>

       Carlton Draught has produced several advertising materials to retain its current list of happy drinking customers as well as entice people from uncharted territories to learn to love the Carlton Draught. One advertisement shows a group of yellow clad Australian men bringing their cans of Carlton Draught cups past a sign that states “Carlton Draught Plastic Cup”. The men are in a ten –pin bowling formation with the number one man in front of the marching men. It is also marketing as made from only the most attractive yeast. Another marketing ad shows that the company uses big horses to dramatize the Carlton Draught’s ‘big’ taste. It is marketed as a product that has been made from beer. It has been brewed in a big metal thing and ha crafted with huge beer –making equipment.

One of the company’s marketing strategies is to sponsor Australian Sports Activities. The company sponsors the Australian Football League from the grassroots level to the more prestigiously elite football games to promote their beer products.

(Ref: http://www.carltondraught.com.au/Common/Engine/Files/Attractive%20Yeast.pdf).

       Further, the Foster’s Group financial statements show that Carlton Draughts is sold as one of Foster’s many beer products. The 2006 income statements show that the Fosters Group generated a net sales revenue of Aus $ 4,946.4 million. Carlton Draught and United Beverages contributed Aus $ 669.7 million to the entire net sales revenue mentioned here. It is advertised as a ‘made from beer’ product.  The Foster Groups advertises that its yeast has been chosen from a number of yeast families for its attractiveness. The company emphasizes that the Carlton Draught is a very excellent end -product of the process where plain sugar into magnificently changed into the world famous Carlton Draught. The advertising line of the company goes “And so to you, the drinker we say this: Don’t. Don’t resist. Instead, enjoy Carlton Draught. Baks in its beauty. And feel Assured, as you put your lips to our highly attractive yeast, You’re part of fine tradition and, indeed, and indeed, an exclusive family”

(Ref: http://www.carltondraught.com.au/Common/Engine/Files/Attractive%20Yeast.pdf).

        The Carlton Draught is now the no. 1 beer in Australia based on this article from foster group. This February 2008, Carlton Draught which is the latest installment in its  ‘Sky Troop’ ad campaign. Carlton Draught continues to maintain its lonely top position in the beer market because its continuous outpouring of new ad materials like the sky troop advertisements. The company’s ad promotion is secret ingredient why the company has been catapulted and glued to the no. 1 spot in the Australian Beer market.

(Ref: http://fostersgroup.com/investors/docs/FINALBusinessReviewFA.pdf)

       The former Carlton Draught Australian ad campaign presented a beer that was not attached to Victoria or to Melbourne. The Carlton Draught was packaged as the best Australian beer. Carlton Draught was packaged as a reward for hard work where Forster’s lager was the best beer in terms of distinctive taste. Victoria Bitter was packaged as a man’s beer and Melbourne Bitter was targeting the rural settings. Abbots was the beer that targeting clients who had discriminating tastes. The Carlton Draught brand used Clydesdale horses to get the company’s sales advertising message right to the hearts and minds of the beer drinking market. The horses were pulling in the carts that were carrying a cart loaded with Carlton Draught beer. This advertisement touched the nationalistic hearts of many of the ad viewers for it brought the olden days when there lesser boundaries between the city and the country(Jones & Morgan,1994,165).

       Further, the horse drawn Carlton Draught ads use historical locations that transport the viewers to a time and place in Australia many years ago. The core values of the horse advertisement are loyalty, mateship and the reward of a beer for a good day’s work.  Many well known actors were paid to create a very nostalgic and captivating Carlton Draught advertisement. The different actors that were hired came from different walks of like in order for the owners of Carlton Light to connect and reach out to different beer drinking market segments. The company also improved the face of its Carlton Brand in line with the United State’s success with its own Crown Lager and many other foreign beers. Carlton Draught increased its advertising budget in order to keep Carlton Draught with its share of the beer drinking market. Carlton Draught is Australia’s best in the realm of draught beer. Its marketing strategy is to target beer drinkers from the ages eighteen to twenty four with wider focus on the ages eighteen to thirty –nine. These are bombarded with advertisements to point the advantages of quenching their adventurous spirit with the Carlton Draught beer(Jones & Morgan,1994,165).

       In addition, the Carlton Draught’s brand strength is based on the freshness of its brewery. Another of its brand strengths is its unquestionable quality. The Carlton Draught is also marketed as a straightforward beer that can be drank in group gatherings with one’s friends and classmates. The Carlton Draught owners, the Fosters, also helped promote its brand in the horse racing circuit, the Australian Football League and other properties where draught beer is a mainstay(Summers & Morgan,2005, 243). Beer drinkers in bars in Australia, including Victoria, can order a glass (200 ml) or a pot (285ml). Carlton Draught can also be bought by the bottle (750ml), stubbies (375ml) and cans (375 ml). The Australian local beers are normally higher in alcohol content than the U.S. and U.K. beer brands. The local beers have only an average of 4.9% alcohol as compared to the U.S. & U.K. beers with their 2.7 to 2.9 percent alcohol content. Carlton Draught beers are normally sold in bottleshops, bars, restaurants, and pubs(Rowthorn et al.2002,73.

      Likewise, the construction of Courage beer of a brewery in Melbourne Australia had catapulted the Australian beer industry from a local sheltered industry to a world –wide business enterprise. The entry of Courage Beer into Victoria Australia finally made a great dent in the way the current beer industry was being done in terms of marketing and strategic management. Courage immediately met headlong the local beer Australian manufacturers to encroach on a large chunk of the Victoria beer market segment. The marketing battleground was done to acquiring the control and distribution channels. The marketing fight then leveled up to stage two where marketing in terms of generating as much territory in areas of people, products, price and promotion were now the rules of the game and no longer the exception(Wilson & Gourvish,1998,216).

      Further, the local Australian beer manufacturers, Carlton Draught and United Beers, immediately hired the expertise of an advertising company to aid them out of a losing marketing battleground. The two local beer companies were caught unprepared by the sudden entry of an outsider into their Australian beer market. The hiring of an Ad agency was a success. The sales of Carlton Draught and United Beers immediately turned the tables around against the intruding outsider, Courage beers. A brilliant marketing plan caught Courage beer sleeping. Courage was immediately outbalanced in the marketing struggle to corner the Australian beer market. Carlton Draught delved into advertising, promotions and marketing to drive back the Courage beers out of their beer territory. The sales of Carlton beers immediately rocketed upwards due to the serious marketing strategy the Carlton Draught implemented(Wilson & Gourvish,1998,216).

        In the same manner, the Carlton packaged beer brand had increased in sales because of renewed vigor that the Fosters put into waging a serious marketing war against Courage Beers. The Carlton draught owners learned a good lesson from winning the marketing fight against Courage Beers. Carlton owners used the same marketing strategy to venture into uncharted waters. Carlton Draught has grown bold enough to advertise its Carlton Draught and Carlton packaged beers to areas outside Australian market segments of Victoria and Melbourne. The Fosters used this same marketing strategy to impose a foothold in the beer market outside the Australian continent. Consequently, Courage had to pack up its beer making equipments and return to its country of origin. A good marketing lesson here is that the company must mercilessly punish their rivals in the industry in order to survive. Courage Beer sold its beer making assets to another Australian beer company, Tooth, in 1978. Tooth was a struggling and losing beer company during their purchase of the Courage assets(Wilson & Gourvish,1998,216).

         Plus, the secret of Carlton Draught’s success is simply stated in its 1990 motto: “mamizing returns through the dominance of the Australian beer market and minimizing of costs(Weill and Broadbent,1998,98) . The Carlton Draught company had many sister products that catered to different beer drinking market segments. The sister beer brands of Carlton Draught that has brought its owners, Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) are Foster’s Lager, Foster’s Light, Foster’s Special Bitter, Victoria Bitter, Carlton Genuine Draught, Carlton Light, and Crown Lager. These brands have brought its owners a fifty percent of the entire Australian beer drinking market and over one and a half billion annual revenues. These beers are established household name in all Australian homes(Weill and Broadbent,1998,98).

• The Future for the Brand: Considerations that should drive the future direction of the brand.

        The future for the Carlton Draught Brand is to firmly establish its foothold in the international market. Carlton Draught has also entrenched itself as the number one brand in the Australian Beer Market. Striving to be the world’s number one draught beer is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This means that it is a very tall order. But, aiming high will surely generate a very high sales and net profit figures. Aiming low would make the company strive less and thus generate lower sales and profits. For, international marketing is the thrust of many governments around the world. A company, like Carlton Draught must strive to do well internationally in order to guard its own beer territory against uninvited rivals in the beer industry(Phillips et al.,1994,10).

CONCLUSION:

      Carlton Draught is one the fastest growing Australian beer. Carlton Draught has proven that it can reach the top spot in the Australian draught beer market with its no holds barred, take no prisoners type of marketing strategy. Its secret is the use of the Viral marketing method of advertising. The Foster’s beer brands Carlton Draught and United Beer hired an advertising company to aid them to ward off rivals encroaching on their territory. Conclusively, the future for the Carlton Draught Brand is to firmly establish its foothold in the international market.

REFERENCES:

Superbrands, retrieved Oct 20, 2008

Carlton Draught Big Ad, retrieved Oct 20, 2008

      http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8885159090946272441

Carlton Draught, retrieved Oct 19, 2008,  http://www.carltondraught.com.au/

Fosters group financial statements, retrieved Oct 19, 2008,

Foster Group, retieveed Oct 19, 2008

     http://fostersgroup.com/investors/docs/FINALBusinessReviewFA.pdf)

Carlton Draught Market Share, retrieved Oct 19, 2008

    http://www.bandt.com.au/news/79/0c017579.asp

Jones, G., Morgan, N., (1994), Adding Value: Brands and Marketing in Food and Drink,

    London, Routledge

Farfor et al., (2003), Northern Territory, Australia, Lonely Planet

Summers, J., Morgan, M., (2005), Sports Marketing, London, Thomson Press

Rothorn et al., (2002), Victoria: Wineries, Festivals and Great Escapes, London,

     Rowthorn.

Wilson, R., Gourvish, T.,(1998), The Dynamics of the International Brewing Industry Since 1800, London, Routledge

Weill, P., Broadbent, M., (1998), Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology, Harvard, Harvard Business Press

Baker, M., (2002), The Marketing Book, London, Butterworth – Heinemann

Phillips et al.,(1994), International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development, and Implementation, London, Routledge

Chaston, I.,(1999), New Marketing Strategies: Evolving Flexible Processes to Fit Market Circumstance, London, Sage