Samuel Adams - Seasonal Beers
Marketing Plan Outline

Leesa Walker

Marketing Management - MM522
DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management

May 11, 2012

2.0 Situation Analysis
Samuel Adams Boston Lager is an American Craft Brewer that has been operating since the mid-1980’s. Samuel Adams is brewed by The Boston Beer Company, Inc. The Samuel Adams products have been well received and marketing will be the key to the development of brand and product awareness as well as the growth of the customer base. Competition among American Craft Brewer’s is increasingly intense. Samuel Adams offers over twenty distinctive styles of beer. To gain the edge in this market, Samuel Adams must carefully target specific segments and plan for a next-generation product to keep brand momentum going. 2.1 Market Analysis
Samuel Adams possesses good information about the market and knows a great deal about the common attributes of the most valuable customer. This information will be leveraged to better understand who is served, what their specific needs are, and how Samuel Adams can better communicate with them. 2.2 SWOT Analysis 2.2.1 Strengths Broad product line Customer loyalty Brand availability Bottle recycling efforts Stable business 2.2.2 Weaknesses Weak relative distribution channels Low industry market share Slow process improvements Low system capabilities Low productivity 2.2.3 Opportunities Light beer growth Increase consumption of high quality beer Better beer segment
The ability to leverage other industry participants’ marketing efforts to help grow the general market
2.2.4 Threats Cost of raw materials Cost of raw materials may increase Future/potential competition from an already established market participant A slump in the economy that could have a negative effect on the consumer’s spending of