Management 600
Dr. Luce
Blake Herner

Brown –Forman Corporation

Founded by George Garvin Brown and John Forman in 1870 Brown- Forman is now one of the largest competitors in the alcoholic beverage market within the United States. The company is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and is still family owned to this day. While the company sells a wide variety of products they are specifically known for their wine, spirits and whiskeys. Under an umbrella of roughly 25 distinctive brands “Brown-Forman Corporation is a diversified producer, marketer, and exporter of alcoholic beverage and consumer products”. Their top sellers are “Jack Daniel's whiskey, Southern Comfort liqueur, Canadian Mist Canadian whiskey, Early Times and Old Forester bourbon, Glenmorangie Scotch, Finlandia vodka, Korbel champagne and brandy, and Fetzer, Bolla, and Sonoma-Cutrer wines” (1) www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories,

Organizational Change and strategic

Bourbon was the original product Brown-Forman produced and sold giving theirs the title of ‘ Old Forester’, which is still in production today. Bourbon was traditionally sold by the barrel directly from the distiller to the retailer. At which point the bar or pub would transfer the bourbon into there own bottles. Recognizing this opportunity and understanding the power of marketing using a differentiated approach, Brown-Forman began bottling ‘Old Forester’ making sure each was corked and sealed. This was the first marketing tactic used to separate them from the competition and was the first bourbon to be bottled individually in the United States. Continuing on the path of their differentiated marketing success, Brown-Forman incorporated the pitch that their bourbon was a medicinal necessity and the drinking of it would lead to prolonged life and health.

“All the company's advertising concentrated on marketing