Reaction Paper #3
JOU 165
Due September 17 by midnight
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/magazine/the-marketing-of-no-marketing.html
What is unusual about PBR's situation? How have they tried to adapt? What do you think of PBR's strategy? With regards to the guy with the PBR tattoo, do you think it is unusual for people to have such strong ties to a brand (or even a brand of beer?) Are there any brands that you have such strong feelings for? Can you describe what it means to you?
Keep it to 600-700 words. Try to reference back to the readings when you can.
Remember, our reaction papers will be due in a week, by Fridays at midnight. No late papers accepted. Everyone is expected to do 9 through the semester. The 10th is extra credit.
Let me know if you have any questions!
PBR’s situation is definitely rare and incredibly interesting. Most companies will never find themselves benefiting from not advertising but PBR sure has. It is strange that in this day and age with a Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, and Corona commercial every fifteen seconds that a less known brand like PBR would be able to benefit from not advertising. Before I read this article I had a little knowledge of PBR and I just assumed that it was a blue collar brand for construction workers and older guys. I saw it in my grandpa’s fridge a couple times when I was younger so that perception of the beer kind of stuck with me. PBR has gotten themselves in peculiar situation their demographic has completely flipped around. From blue collar to punk rock and indie. It makes sense that this demographic of young hipsters on the west coast would drift towards a brand that does no advertising. They see it as a way of being non-conforming and different than mainstream. Advertising, especially in the beer scene is huge so I can understand the refreshing feeling of a quality beer that does not bombard you with billboards, commercials, and magazine ads. To these Portland punk rockers and cool outsiders it is a political statement. It is a way to stick it to the man to get a product that doesn’t advertise and was never apart of hip culture. PBR has tried to embrace this new demographic while still not diving into heavy advertising. They have hired a new CEO and a new head of marketing from Coors. PBR has also upped the number of accounts( Bars that have PBR) in the Portland area to continue to feed the thirst of the punk rockers. They are remaining loyal to their limited advertising ways and sales are still holding strong. I do think that eventually they might have to break down and do a little more low profile advertising to remain edgy, but for the time being I think PBR’s strategy is genius. There is no way they would be able to compete with Bud or Coors so why waste money advertising? I am glad they didn’t sign Kid Rock and blow a million dollars for him to be a sponsor, they do not need him especially when this new demographic despises advertising. It is brilliant but would definitely not work for every company. PBR was extremely lucky to have a demographic against ads. PBR making money without advertising is incredible. I love their strategy and hope that they will continue to succeed in the future without wasting money on gawky ads. As far as the fellow goes with the PBR tattoo you got some issues bud. I have seen plenty of ads on TV, billboards, magazines and else where so I really don’t need to see human billboards walking around giving props to what ever brands they think they associate with. I can sympathize with maybe putting some ad space on your car if you worked for that company and they gave you a little compensation that is all good, but to tattoo a brand name of a beer on yourself is pretty ridiculous. I don’t think anybody should feel so emotionally attached to a brand that they should get it tattooed on themselves. We all have our favorite brands but I don’t feel that any of the brands I like need to be tattooed on my skin. there are a few brands that bring up memories of good times but brands do not define me as an individual I might get a window cling or sticker or something of that nature but that’s about it.
ReplyDeleteYeah PBR's situation is unusual from its mainstream competitors because they spend up to 1 billion on advertising in hope of future beer sale gains an keeping their brand name ringing in consumers heads like a song with the jingles they have in the commercials for a brand to the comedy approah they use to kep people connected an up to date with the brand.PBR has been able to accomplish these goals with little advertising to none at all. Only a few Punk Rockers an bike messengers had been able to bring the beer back out of the dark. Since they were like a rebellious group of people who like to drink this beer it made alot of people wanna figure why an what drew these people to this brand of beer. It gives it an intriging appeal. PBR adapted by realizing that they should open up to this class of people who were starting to get into the brand in which the brand had never targeted before without advertising to them now. They ended up hiring some new people from major brewing companies who had ideas an ways to get these new consumers from this hipster age w/o spending major money on advertising to get them.The punksters self advertise for PBR by wearing apparell an word of mouth.By refusing to hire Kid Rock to sponsor them as a spokesman PBR knew that was a waste of money their budget was to small to compete with the others so why spend money when they can get gains by saving on advertising an putting there money into the brand itself.An since advertising was limited people werent able to give a negative backlash cause you werent disappointed by some lame sales pitch that gave you a false promise about the brand. So when people drank the beer the just expected beer nothing else no comparisons.The guy with the tattoo just shows you how loyal an connected people can be to a brand. It's not unusual for someone to tattoo a brand on themselves because when you grow up using an wanting these brands it becomes of part of our culture an our life. We can recognize brands an that recognition can send us into a instant memory thought of a goodtime when we had or used that brand.That brand an that tattoo represents some people an gives them a since of identity.I have strong feelings for NIKE apparel.I have such strong felings that I dont even look to buy any other brands like reebok,adidas,or puma. I know that I only want NIKE its like its embroided in my brain. I've tried the other brands before but none of them made me feel like I did when I had on NIKE. Its a brand i've been wearing an relating to since I was a kid. My friends an I all could identify with the brand an that gave us a comman connection from our brand selection.Alot of our childhood athlete stars wore NIKE an was sponsored by NIKE an that just gave the brand that much more importance in our lives in which it became our culture.
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