Success Case Study: Bira 91 Beer - Spearheading the bottled craft beer movement in India by targeting urban millennials

Success Case Study: Bira 91 Beer - Spearheading the bottled craft beer movement in India by targeting urban millennials.

Summary

In 2015, B9 Beverages launched Bira 91 as a craft beer brand developed in India for the global audience. Bira 91 struck a chord with young urban Indian Millennials with its low alcohol content and flavorful formulation in a market dominated by strong mass-produced lagers, and its unconventional branding. The brand soon went viral, and sales surged, making Bira 91 one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing craft beer brands.

B9 Beverages, an Indian startup company, introduced Bira 91, a craft beer with the tagline "Imagined in India, for the World” in India in 2015. Bira 91 beer is sold draught and in bottles in over 15 cities in India, and overseas markets including the US, the UAE, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the UK.

Scope

• Bira 91’s offering of a bottled craft beer with lower alcohol content (ABV) and more focus on flavor captured the attention of Indian youth who were seeking something different from the mass-produced beers that dominated the market.
  
• Bira 91 adopted an unconventional brand and logo, complemented by product positioning and pricing strategies, and marketing campaigns that were carefully crafted to appeal to its target audience - young Millennials.
  
• The company leveraged a mix of below-the-line marketing and social-media marketing to connect with its target consumer cohort.
  
• The unconventional log and brand mascot provided Bira 91 with a marketing medium that bypasses the restrictions on advertising of alcoholic beverages in India, and a means for generating merchandise revenues.
  

Reasons to Buy

• Reduce the risk of failure by learning from brands/products that have under-performed: failed innovation can severely impact profit and reputation.
  
• Understand the relevant consumer trends and attitudes that drive and support innovation success so you can tap into what is really impacting the industry.
  
• Gain a broader appreciation of the fast-moving consumer goods industry by gaining insights from both within and outside of your sector.
  
• Access valuable strategic take-outs to help direct future decision-making and inform new product development.