Question Details

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.
The specific guidelines for this assignment are:
• The assignment is to be completed individually.
• It should be presented in the form of a report.
• Given the limited word count of this assignment you should not overuse headings.
• An executive summary and a contents page are not required.
• The word count includes such items as headings, in-text references and quotes. It does not include the reference list at the end of the assignment. The word limit is final - over length assignments will be penalized.
• This is an academic assignment and you are expected to support your conclusions with at least five (5) references to the relevant and contemporary academic literature. Avoid referencing coursework from other universities or from non-academic websites, e.g. Wikipedia.
Task Length:
2000 words
Value:
20
______________________________________
Coopers Brewery Ltd
Introduction:
From its base in Adelaide, South Australia, Coopers Brewery can lay claim to being one of the few significant players in the brewing industry which is still in family hands. Concentration has been the trend across the Australian brewing industry, yet somehow, Coopers has managed to resist these developments and increase its, albeit small, share of the Australian beer market, whilst at the same time growing its exports. How has it managed to do this? What have been the strategies and tactics employed to achieve this? As this case reveals, much of the credit lies with the marketing techniques that have been employed by the firm. Niche marketing strategies have been implemented, which capitalize on the family nature of the firm and emphasize the premium nature of its products.

A brief history of Coopers:
When Thomas Cooper arrived in the then-colony of South Australia in 1862, white settlement had occurred only 26 years prior. Despite having trained as a stonemason in his native Yorkshire, Thomas Cooper quickly established himself as a successful brewer, devising Coopers Sparkling Ale and Extra Stout; products which are still made today. Upon his death in 1897, control of the firm passed to four of his sons. Two successive generations continued to develop the company throughout the 20th century, maintaining the firm- traditional products, whilst introducing new lines such as lagers. By the mid-1990s, it was apparent that expansion in capacity would be needed for the firm to develop. To this end, a new state-of-the-art brewery was designed for the Adelaide suburb of Regency Park. Dr Tim Cooper, a fifth generation member of the family, oversaw the development of the new site and is now Managing Director and Chief Brewer. His cousin, Glenn Cooper, is Chairman and Marketing Director, with various other members of the Cooper family occupying seats in the boardroom and within the company itself. The expansion of the brewery at the new site allowed Coopers to increase production and expand away from its South Australian heartland into the larger markets on Australia- eastern seaboard. Exports have also become more significant, with 35 per cent volume growth between 2006 and 2007. However, at 2.6 per cent of total sales, the company- sales in international markets are still a small proportion of their overall business. With a market share in Australia of 3.3 per cent, Coopers is not a major player in the Australian beer market. Nonetheless, sales volumes have continued to grow in most regions of Australia and in the 2007-2008 financial year, Coopers’ turnover stood at AU$161 million, up 14.2 per cent on the previous year, with beer sales in Australia increasing by 4.4 per cent.
Brand position:
A great deal of the company- marketing and branding centres on the history and tradition of the firm. This can be seen, for example, in presentation of the firm- history on the website and on marketing collateral such as flyers. Further evidence of this is apparent in the physical design of the products, which have a ‘traditional’ feel, not least through their labelling, which includes the firm- name in handwritten typescript. This logo is also apparent across other points of contact such as buildings, advertising materials and press releases; and has the benefit of having been long-used and hence recognisable amongst the customer base. The naming of the products supports this strategy—most include the firm- family name as a key element of the product name, contrasting with the firm- major competitors whose acquisitive behaviour has resulted in a wide assortment of product names which are reflective of the various takeovers undertaken over the last few decades. Moreover, all but one of Coopers’ regular beers include either ‘ale’, ‘stout’, or ‘lager’ in their names. This gives a further traditional feel to the company- products, especially when compared to competing brands—Heineken, Budweiser and Hahn, for instance—which are increasingly foregoing the actual beer type on the name of their product and in any advertising.
As one of the few family firms which remain in the brewing sector, Coopers readily stress this point of differentiation. In part this is apparent through the role of the two family members at the top of the business as spokesmen and advocates for the brand. By emphasising the presence within the firm of a continuous line of Coopers from the founder, Thomas Cooper, to the present management team and board, the firm is able to highlight the role of ‘family values.’ Whilst it may be the case that such values are inherently contestable, it is certainly the case that for many consumers in Australia, especially older ones, who, after all, form the main target market; they are likely to be important.
Promotional levers:
Coopers uses various promotional levers to encourage consumers to buy its products and to engender loyalty amongst the target market. Advertising operates across a range of media, including television, radio, billboards, print and various others. Common themes in the advertising, which is handled by an external agency, include the unique nature of the product and the family concept. Stressing the importance of the latter, one manager noted:

“We are very proud of the fact that we have being going since 1862. We’re very proud of the fact that we are a family company and we’ve got this unbroken history and a very unique product. So a big part of the message is the history.”

A PR agency is used to promote the company through the media and event management and sponsorship. Promotional opportunities have included ‘Lagerland’ in the summer of 2007, which involved specially trained ‘Coopers Lager Ambassadors’ visiting various public houses in Adelaide providing tasting sessions for consumers. Coopers has also developed a website which consists primarily of informational content on various parts of the company business. Information on the firm- activities is posted there, including, amongst other things, its products, history, activities in the community and details on the firm- businesses from a student perspective. Various beer-related merchandise is available through the company- online store, including branded apparel, barware and stationery items.
The company has also promoted the family nature of the firm through the establishment of a loyalty scheme, named The Coopers Club. Established in 1996, the Club invites potential members to become ‘part of the extended Cooper family’. For a relatively low annual fee of AU$35, members receive beer-related merchandise, a regular club magazine, access to special club nights, a discount on merchandise purchases and other benefits. Through the concept of the broad family group, the stress is also on making the consumer feel that they have a certain amount of ‘ownership’ of the brand. For the company, product and brand loyalty is potentially enhanced through the establishment of The Coopers Club. As Chairman Glenn Cooper remarks:

“It is grassroots marketing—I don’t have the marketing money of the big brewers, so we have to be smarter . . . We have 6000 members and we have regular get-togethers and I have a drink with them. It drives their connection with the brand enormously.”
The metaphor of the extended family is also relevant in how the company views its staff. With around 100 employees, the paternal instincts of the firm are apparent in the ways that the company treats its staff, many of whom have been with the firm for decades.
With the move to the new site at Regency Park, Coopers became able to offer brewery tours for the first time. It also invested in a museum to complement them. To be sure, tours of production facilities are not unheard of in the beer industry, with many companies allowing consumers to view the site where beverages are brewed. However, beer museums, whilst not scarce, provide something over and above the standard brewery tour offering. The benefits from the marketing of corporate museums such as the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and the Boag- Centre for Beer Lovers in Launceston, Tasmania are becoming increasingly recognised. Such sites have the potential for enhancing consumer interaction with a product by, for example, allowing a firm to communicate elements of the brand to its various stakeholders or by providing a site at which consumers can pay ‘pilgrimage’ to their favourite brands. In the case of Coopers, the actions of a former Chairman, who was careful to preserve various items from the company- past, were important in allowing the firm to display permanently the collection to the general public. As a member of the current management team noted, the former Chairman:

“wouldn’t let various pieces of equipment be thrown out—he wanted to save them otherwise we would have no material to actually establish a museum. So we had this body of material which we knew that we had to do something with.”

Certainly, with its relatively long history and significant collection, Coopers’ AU$250,000 investment in the museum would appear to be an appropriate one, especially when its location is considered. The company- home state still represents a major market for their products, and by locating the museum in that state- capital, easy access for the core brand ‘pilgrims’ is facilitated. Other brand ‘touchpoints’ are in evidence at Adelaide Airport where the company has opened a bar, ‘Alehouse’, and a ‘General Store’ which retails Coopers merchandise. By avoiding more contemporary wording, the names of these outlets evoke further the traditions of the company.
Conclusions:
To summarise, Coopers displays many of the elements of a firm which is successful at serving its niche markets, and competing with industry players much larger than itself. From a strong base in one part of Australia, it has grown to become one of the major second-tier players in a highly
concentrated brewing industry. In order to fulfil its aim of providing ‘a genuinely different beer experience for people who appreciate discovering beer with character’, various marketing tools have been utilised—the vast majority of which emphasise the traditions inherent in the company. The company has been adept at communicating this key message using various promotional levers. In essence, the company cleverly puts over that, whilst it is a family-run firm, that ‘family’ extends also to include its staff and consumers.


Questions:

1. Analyse the role of IMC in Coopers Brewery- overall marketing strategy.
[5 marks]
2. What different forms of promotion are used by Coopers Brewery, and what consistent communications message is conveyed?
[5 marks]
3. How important is an understanding of the target market in the execution of Coopers Brewery- IMC strategies?
[5 marks]
4. What recommendations would you make to Coopers Brewery regarding its IMC strategy as the company moves forward?
[5 marks]
[Total: 20 marks]
(This case is based on: Byrom, J. & Lehman, K. 2009. Coopers Brewery: Heritage and innovation within a family firm, Marketing Intelligence and Planning. 27 (4): 516-523.)

Academic Referencing and Style Guide

Students must obtain the following electronic publications which are available from the School of Management website: http://www.utas.edu.au/mgmt/student.htm. 
• Writing Assignments: A Guide 
• School of Management Referencing Style 

These resources should be used when completing coursework in this unit.

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