Do Men Want More Than Beer?

Some men complain that women are walking contradictions. But

frankly, men themselves have not exactly been so crystal clear

either. After all, for decades, men were unfairly cast as consumers

with simple minds and even simpler tastes. Yes, men like toys, exotic

cars and gadgets, but the expression "meat and potatoes kind of

guy" stems from somewhere, right?

As a result, marketers have long sought to mass-market products

and services to men with a common denominator offering. While

luxury items and foreign cars were in demand by many, the bulk of

the population -- we were told -- sought more conventional products

to meet their needs. When the time came for man's best friend -- no,

not the barking kind, but beer -- this trend was even more obvious.

For years, giant breweries mass-

produced alcohol and shipped out

millions of cases in the hopes of

wrestling market share away from

competitors. On the periphery,

microbreweries sought to offer suds with

a slight twist for "sophisticated taste

buds," but large brewers felt that, in order to secure the entry-level

drinker, mass-marketed beer was the way to go.

When the verdict was in, brewers were sobered to learn that entry-

level drinkers did not necessarily jump all over suds. In addition, as

overall beer consumption lost market share to wine, spirits and

ready-to-drink beverages, alcohol producers sought to offer unique

products that would both quench drinkers' thirsts and stand out from

the clutter. The problem, as you can imagine, was that real men were

not supposed to drink wine coolers or other "girly drinks"; thus, the

choice boiled down to beer or spirits. But with an overall shift toward

leading a healthier lifestyle, shifting consumer tastes and regulatory

realities, distillers needed to go back to the drawing board and come

up with a novel solution.

After all, while the 20-something segment is growing, the reality is

that many in this age bracket prefer quenching their thirst with a

fruity offering rather than beer. While they may one day grow to

become beer aficionados, distillers recognized the value of brand

loyalty and therefore needed to offer this demographic something as

they entered the drinker demographic.

With these hard numbers to rely on, producers needed no more

convincing. The only dilemma was whether to use malt or distilled

spirits. Two realities made the decision a no-brainer. Products that

are brewed with malt are subject to a lesser tax rate than their

distilled counterparts. Furthermore, distribution of distilled drinks is

more constrained as malternatives have eight times more point of

purchase destinations. Once these factors were mixed into the

formula, one could see that it was just a matter of allocating the

proper resources to the project.

Consumers were not the only ones to give their seal of approval. The

company emphasized the strong performance of the brand in its

annual report. In turn, venerable investment bank Goldman Sachs

upped its Earnings Per Share (EPS) target for 2002, after the strong

2001 showing.

While the firm was excited about the opportunity to expand the

distribution of Smirnoff Ice, it has since unveiled a new offering,

Smirnoff Triple Black. While some may question why a successful

company would "fix" something when it's not broken, the fact of the

matter remains that Smirnoff Triple Black targets that ever-simple

creature -- the male consumer -- who has historically been the

stronger sex when it comes to liquor consumption.

If the success of Smirnoff Ice is any indication of Triple Black's

results, then Diageo will be laughing all the way to its next

shareholder meeting.

Until then, tell the world what you think of Smirnoff Triple Black.

Resources:

www.beer.com

www.texansstandingtall.com