Field Friendly: Barton Beers Ltd.

Salud! Prost! Cheers! Executives at Barton Beers Ltd. can raise a toast in any number of languages -- Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese. That's because the Chicago-based company reaches around the globe to import some of the world's biggest names in beer. At home, however, it faces some P-O-P challenges that are interesting in any language.Beer distribution has become ultra-competitive in the past 15 years, Barton executives say. In the past, a beer distributor/wholesaler could focus on one of the three "majors" (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors) yet make real profits by representing a select few imports. Their tasks included filling orders and setting up merchandising in stores and drinking establishments.However, all the majors now offer multiple brands, there are more imports and micro-brews than ever, and there's been consolidation within the ranks of distributors. Timm Amundson, marketing director for the Modelo brands, says beer distributors now carry so many products that they have their hands full just taking orders -- and less time to help merchandise any one brand.The need for P-O-P, meanwhile, has grown dramatically, says Matt Borgard, national accounts manager. When he first joined the company in 1989, "there were just six items, including one neon and a mirror. I met with Timm, got the budget and decided to develop a program." The challenge, he says, is producing P-O-P that distributors will find easy to put up in both on-premise and off-premise accounts. After all, he notes, if the distributors don't like it, consumers will never get a chance to see it.How It All BeganBarton began 22 years ago as ADP Liquor Imports, a subsidiary of a British company, Amalgamated Distilled Products Ltd. In 1978, Barton introduced Corona Extra into the United States. When Corona Light was introduced in 1989, it set a record as the first import to sell more than a million cases in its introductory year. Today, the Modelo family of Mexican beers that Barton represents also includes Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo and Pacifico Clara. (Barton is the importer for 25 states, primarily west of the Mississippi, while The Gambrinus Cos., San Antonio, Texas, covers the 25 states primarily east of the Mississippi.) The company also represents Tsingtao Beer from China and Italy's Peroni. In 1992, Barton became the importer of St. Pauli Girl from Germany and Double Diamond, an English ale. That same year, Barton stepped into the domestic beer market, acquiring the Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, Wis.Today, Barton is the third-largest imported beer marketer in the United States, with a rate of growth that exceeded every other major importer last year, according to company reports. The P-O-P team is headed by Tom McNichols, executive vice president of marketing. The group then divides under Amundson, marketing director for the Modelo brands, and Fred Graefenhain, marketing director for national brands. "We fully realize that Barton Beers is a sales-driven company," says Amundson, "and that we, as a marketing department, are a support department. We recognize that and pay close attention to what is required out in the field.""Our marketing department is field-sales based," says Kevin Kramnic, promotional marketing manager. "Timm, Matt and I all grew up in a wholesaler house of some sort. That's one reason why we do have such a great rapport with our field sales.""Some companies took their P-O-P, developed it and shoved it down the throat of the distributor," Borgard says. "We decided that for our 350 distributors in the western U.S. for the Modelo brands, we would develop items and offer a budget to the wholesaler, based on sales and other marketing variables, and then let them choose what works best in their market."For example, like the rest of the industry, Barton used to ship each element of its P-O-P (posters, banners, table tents, etc.) out in bulk to wholesalers. "As he was running out the door, a distributor salesperson might grab most of the packs of table tents and throw them in the back of his car," says Borgard. "That left the distributor's other eight salesman with one or no packages. A lot of the market was missing out, so we devised kits that included everything -- table tents, posters, banners, pennant strings, buttons, etc. It's like a promotion in a bag. Now they could put a bunch of these kits in their car, go into the account and everything was complete."P-O-P WorksThrough the companies' thematic promotions (for holidays, sponsorships and other special events) as well as its generic materials (which can be used throughout the year), Barton gives its wholesalers and retailers a varied selection to choose from. "There is a lot of competition beating down the door with promotions," says Borgard. "Almost every day is a holiday now. That's where aggressiveness and your relationships really work for you.""We now make a full promotional calendar of materials available for the wholesalers," says Amundson. "A lot of suppliers in the import category will concentrate on relatively few holiday promotions. We have our key dates (Cinco de Mayo for the Modelo brands, Oktoberfest for St. Pauli Girl and Chinese New Year for Tsingtao), but we fill in the gaps with other concepts as well. The idea is not to just concentrate on two or three primary time periods, but to make materials available throughout the year." For example, Barton has developed "Corona Zona," an all-purpose tropical-island-paradise complete with P-O-P palm trees and sunshine banners, which can be used by retailers at any time of the year.The Corona brand's 14-year relationship with singer Jimmy Buffett -- one of the longest marketing-entertainment partnerships anywhere -- is another promotional cornerstone. Buffett (best known for his hit song "Margaritaville") approached Barton representatives at a charity golf tournament in the mid-80s. "He's a big Corona drinker and was looking for a sponsor at the time," says Amundson. "It was really that simple. A few months later, we were his sponsor. Jimmy's whole persona is laid back and tongue-in-cheek. It just ties in perfectly with what we promote for our products."The Buffet promotion runs throughout each summer and is tied in with the sponsorship of his concert tour. Barton's part includes all collateral materials that tie into the tour itself, signage at the venue, sponsorship identification on tickets, and radio advertising.Keeping wholesalers happy is a very important part of Barton's business, "In years past, we would put a whole program together and offer it to the wholesalers at the beginning of the year," says Kramnic. Barton could order enough materials to last throughout the year and begin production on its permanent materials to ensure the efficiencies of its runs. "But we started getting requests for more P-O-P halfway through the year. They would run low on certain pieces or their warehouses couldn't handle all the P-O-P they were bringing in at that one time." To rectify that situation, Barton created a second P-O-P shipment halfway through the year.Because distributors today are in such a hurry, P-O-P has to be easy to assemble. "If it takes too much effort, it won't get up," says Kramnic. "As soon as we get a prototype done, we bring it into our design studio and try to assemble it without any directions at all. We always include a direction sheet, of course, but we know that distributors have a tendency to throw them away."One complex display -- La Casa de Corona, a corrugated piece used for in-store merchandising and sampling -- was fine-tuned over a period of 18 months. It can now be put up in about 90 seconds.Barb Starr, marketing manager, says Barton is attuned to the special needs of retailers as well. "Some of our brands, like Tsingtao, are sold to Chinese retailers who are sensitive about certain colors and superstitions." In the past, certain P-O-P items weren't used: A clock is bad luck; fans "blow out" good luck; and certain colors, such as black, are not acceptable. "You also must let them hang the P-O-P themselves," she adds. "If you put it up, they will take it down right after you leave."Worldwide ApprovalBeing an importer means Barton executives have another audience to please -- the owners of the brand. That means putting the proper advertising twist on each brand. "We work with the brewery in Germany for St. Pauli Girl," says Tom Willett, product manager. "One thing we must do is communicate what is proprietary to our brand versus other brands out there. By doing that, we are able to distinguish ourselves and create some curiosity so consumers will try our beer."Barton executives meet four times a year with the Modelo brands brewer in Mexico. "They know exactly what we're doing each year," says Amundson. "They know that we understand the American market and they give us a lot of latitude."But throughout the creative process, "You have to think first and foremost of the consumer, your target audience, because that is who is picking up the product," Amundson says. "Creative can come from several different directions. When we're developing a marketing plan, in addition to advertising, we think of all promotional support including sponsorships, retail promotion or P-O-P materials. The actual creative direction can come from advertising, or it can be a grass roots idea from someone out in the field, somebody internally, or one of our distributors."Borgard says a design for one of the company's popular neon signs literally started on a bar napkin. "A couple of years ago I was riding with a distributor sales supervisor. He gave me a sheet with three designs that he had done. We took one of them, revised it just a tad, and created our Pacifico sailfish sign. It won a silver OMA award from POPAI. Now some of our competitors are coming out with similar designs."Kramnic adds that wholesalers also come up with creative ways to use P-O-P. While this year's Corona Zona kit was targeted for on-premise accounts, he says, "We noticed that a lot of the palm trees from that kit were also being used for displays off-premise."To maintain cost efficiencies, the marketing department often overlaps with Barton's other advertising programs. "We find it easy to tie directly into outdoor and TV advertising," says Amundson. "We can replicate a lot of that material through P-O-P." Recently, the company has also aggressively pursued its fleet graphics program -- providing full-coverage graphics to paint anything from vans to trailers -- that extend the brand's image and its personality.Research is very informal for Barton's marketing department. After each themed promotion they will send out a survey. "Our regional managers will discuss with our wholesaler how everything went," says Kramnic, adding that the most important measurement is the wholesalers' feedback. "The regional managers are always out in the field seeing what is going on. They get a good feel for what is happening and they find out which pieces were effective. They know exactly what is going up and what isn't."

Field Friendly: Barton Beers Ltd.

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