Concerts and battle of brands
By allowing themselves to be pushed out of the concert arena Carlsberg lost a battle it has won several decades.
Good people, Malawi is not a Carlsberg country. Neither is the citizenry an enclave for any of the numerous companies with signposts in our border posts which associate their products with this country.
Ignore the things marketers do and the lies they propagate in their line of duty.
Carlsberg, the beer that has called this country home for over 50 years, was probably the main loser when Jamaican reggae stars Morgan Heritage came to town two weeks ago.
That was the day a generally accepted old-timer left a ready-made clientele to a newcomer striving to steal the show.
It was a big marketing coup that the brains behind SAB Miller’s array of beers, lagers and ciders won the battle to sell their emergent brands at the mega international show which will go into history as the very best show in the country.
When achievers lose a battle of supremacy to strivers, it is not for onlookers to ask what happened.
Rather, the flood of SAB Miller’s bottles at Civo Stadium was the stuff that should jolt any manager to summon a battalion of marketers to explain how on earth they lost the war.
What went wrong? How did they miss the boat?
These are some of the questions that were supposed to be boggling the headship of the company that claims to be the brewer of probably the best best on earth. Maybe it is.
The only thing I know for sure is that Carlsberg is the major beneficiary of most live performances, but it seems to take this organised market for granted by failing to invest adequately in supporting the gatherings of thousands.
Take live music for example, it is not easy to see how Carlsberg commodities come and go–quickly and exorbitantly.
When it comes to live music performances, it is discernible how many a fun-seeker pay just K1 000 at the door while spending almost 10 times more on alcoholic drinks that keep Carlsberg workforce in town.
Carlsberg cannot continue taking its clientele for granted.
The time when all the machinations to reap or disown those who spend thousands of kwachas to grab a costly beer must end.
For those who had to walk long distances from the show grounds to buy a beer at Mbowe Filling Station, their question was this: ‘Carlsberg, why have you forsaken us?’
This is the puzzle that keep haunting show-goers who spend their all on the drinks.
This does not come easy.
It is always a result of a clinical process of reading the signs of the times and making winning decisions when it matters most.
Surely, Carlsberg was approached by the impresarios, but they may have said: ‘Let’s think about it!”
Slashing the beer prices at Mbowe Filling Station to sway revellers at the Royal Family of reggae did not look like a typical Carlsberg decision. Its one they rarely make. If they did it all the time, the revellers wouldn’t be compelled to think it was sheerly contrived to water down SAB Miller’s big swoop.
Carlsberg must learn to swop it right on the show grounds not in the outskirts of the big-time gig as was the case during the marketing battle of Lilongwe.
By allowing themselves to be pushed out of the concert arena Carlsberg lost a battle it has won several decades.
Could this be the begining of a shift of power?
Only time will tell.
