2. A Brief History of the Brew...
• 1865, Susannah Oland sailed from England to Nova
Scotia with her family and, lucky for us, with her recipe
for a rather delicious brown October ale.
1865, Susannah Oland sailed from England to Nova Scotia with her
• 1867 – her recipe for a rather delicious brown
family and, lucky for us, with Susannah, her husband and 9 employees form
“The Army and Navy Brewery “ – after a few deaths
October ale.
and disasters, and name changes they eventually settle
on “Moosehead Breweries Ltd.” named after their
signature Moosehead Pale Ale
• By 1962, Moosehead had seen its 4th generation of
Olands run the brewery
• The Moose is Loose: Moosehead decides to grow by
launching its signature lager to the south
3. 3 Key Reasons Why
Moosehead Moved to the South
1) Interprovincial trade barriers
– required a brewer to have production facilities within a province
– Moosehead was a small &privately owned : they simply didn't have
the capital to build additional facilities to serve the other Canadian
provinces.
2) Size of American beer market
– Canadian market: consumed roughly 20 million hectoliters of beer a
year
– the US market was ten times the size of the Canadian domestic
market
3) Growing US import market:
– The tastes of American beer consumers was changing from the
traditional lighter/drier beers (e.g. Miller, Busch) which created room
for more niche products
– Key imports, like Heineken, we’re building a strong base
4. Moosehead principles to enter the US market:
1 2 3
Monitor and Position the Get the product
research market brand correctly: right for the
trends and enter a In the premium market: changes
growth segment: Space to packaging
Drinking age – 35
year old American
Male
4 5
Maintain consistency in Create strong distribution
graphics and advertising: focus partners: Connect with a
on the Moose + Canada reputable and established
distributer
5. The Distributor Years
1978 – 1990 All Brand 1997 -2007
Distributors Gambrinus
1990 -1997 –All Brand was
purchased by Guinness Imports
• Moosehead worked with 3 different distributors from 1978 -2006
• Distributors “owned” the brand in the USA: pricing and marketing
Key Mistake:
•Canadian head office continued to focus on Canadian Operations
•When import market declined in late 80’s distributor dropped
pricing to compete with domestics
6. Moving Back Up Market
• Moosehead recognized the distributors
error in moving the product to the domestic
segment
• Worked with distributor to move
Moosehead back into the Premium Import
Space in the USA
• Introduced campaigns e.g “heed the Call” to
attract a younger demographic (avg age in
late 1980’s was 44)
• Move from Guinness Imports to Gambrinus was an attempt to
ally with a distributor with more expertise in the premium
import space (Gambrinus had expertly introduced Corona to
the US)
• Gambrinus introduced new marketing programs to give a
premium association with the Moosehead product: e.g. Shirt
Campaigns
7. Moosehead USA: subsidiary of Moosehead Canada
• March 31, 2007: Moosehead decided to break its contract with
Gambrinus
– Andrew Oland had just ascended as the head of Moosehead
– Gambrinus had not been giving the needed attention to
Moosehead
• Moosehead believed it could do a better job selling its own beer:
– Leverage marketing campaigns North and South of the border
• Choose Key wholesalers & have full control of distribution
networks:
– Alter distribution strategy
– Target new cities & focus on more profitable areas
– develop relationships with additional retail stores and bars
directly to dismissed the need for some wholesalers
• Improve margins by eliminating the distributor
8. Moosehead Today
US, there are two tiers of
breweries:
1) Large/publicly traded
2) small low tier
Units Sold
breweries including
Shiner and
Bridgeport.
Marketing/Ad spend
Moosehead sits in a Unique tier
• Moosehead has an attractive offering and is an appealing
acquisition for the large tier competitors
• Low desire from the Oland Family to be acquired:
Moosehead is proud to be Canada’s oldest independently
owned Brewery
9. Moosehead: USA & Canada Working Together
USA & Canada:
•Use the same marketing assets and campaign messages (small tweaks)
•Meet monthly in Toronto to collaborate on Marketing initiatives
•USA President is accountable to Moosehead Canada for Marketing & Sales
Canada USA
Key target drinking age – 35 males drinking age – 35 males
market
Value Prop: premium domestic in import
most of Canada (domestic
in Maritimes)
Pricing & Government Controlled Moosehead must sell to the
Distribution: retailer + customer: More
POS advertising
12. Recommendations for the Future
Moosehead should continue to focus on:
1. Targeting the drinking age – 35 year old male
– Top beer consuming group in the US
2. Moving the brand into the premium space
– Continue to fund POS and advertising activities that promote a premium image
3. Further developing new and existing relationships with retailers in the North Eastern
US to increase margins
– NE has the most profit because of close proximity to St. Johns (lower
transportation costs)
– Lower barriers into key distribution points (south is dominated by supermarkets
with strong relations with larger breweries)
4. Introducing products into the NE USA that leverages the Moosehead brand image
– Moosehead’s core competencies are beer and marketing
– Moosehead’s Canadian image can easily be translated to another new product
e.g. Cracked canoe
– Cracked canoe would make an ideal transition beer for maturing customers
