Month: March 2014

  • Incentives are not a strategy, they are tactics…..

    In the early 70s, I was a route supervisor at Schepps Distributing.  The company brought in the first unique package of beer I had ever seen.  It was called Barrel of Beer, from the Jos. Huber Brewing Co.  The glass bottle was shaped as a barrel with a ring pull top.  It arrived in a […]

  • No matter where I go, there I am…..

    Chico, California is a small college town just north of Sacramento.  It is the home of Sierra Nevada originated in the 1980s.  Outside of Sacramento, the closest major market is San Francisco, thus it is no surprise that Sierra Nevada initially targeted that market.  As Sierra developed northern California, they focused on their flagship product, […]

  • In search of Hans Brinker

    A couple of years after the expansion of Coors in south Texas, their market share had settled in to around 13%.  Schlitz remained a strong number one.  Coors had a difficult time developing the on premise so when I arrived in Wichita in 1978, I felt I had landed in heaven.  Coors market share was over 60% […]

  • Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing..

    The last seven of nine Ryder Cup matches between the US and European teams have been won by the Europeans.  The PGA of America selects the captain for each event, historically choosing a captain in their mid, to late 40s, with the thought that they would be familiar with the tour players who were generally younger. […]