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58 physical activities. Danish people are known as the Europe champions in exercising. How can it be that Danish people are both the best at drinking, but also exercising, and could those things, if not completely, at least partly becoming more coherent with one another?
The problem is that 9,4 liters alcohol equals to 12 standard drinks per week if one standard drink equals 1,5 centiliter pure alcohol. A 0,5-liter Tuborg Classic contains 195 kcal, which is equivalent to 2730 calories every week. Therefore, there is a mismatch between the volume of physical activities vs consumption of alcohol with a high calorie intake, as people are gaining weight due to the massive intake of high calorie alcohol (Perez-Cueto, 2018 ).
The solution is, that Carlsberg must introduce its own Light Beer with 40 % less calories. It will become an healthy alternative available, and there will be a strong branding associated with people taking care of themselves and their body. The brand will be a ecological beer with sustainable bottling (PWC, 2015).
The only competitors in the Danish market will be substituting products such as Gin Tonic, wine and other low-carb options.
In a global scale, there is a large group of competitors. To mention the biggest: Natural Ice, Michelob Ultra, Bud Light Premium, Miller Lite, Corona Light, Amstel Light and Heineken Light. These beers are becoming the bestsellers within the companies, and this proves the huge market potential for Carlsberg, as it is the best-selling beer in many countries.
Therefore, Carlsberg must acknowledge the global players, nonetheless not let themselves be threaten not to enter the market. As Danish people love local and ecological produced
products, it would be ideal to brand the drink as that (Mollerup, 2008).
9.2 Second proposal of action
The second proposal involves introducing a beer completely focused on Generation Y’s preferences. This beer would contain all the necessities demanded from the future generation.
Therefore, Carlsberg must introduce a beer with bottling completely sustainable and 100 % ecological. The beer would have to contain a high amount of protein intake (Perez-Cueto, 2018 ). Besides living up to the food-trends of the future consumers, the beer would also have to contain vitamin D as a supplement, as Danish people in general have a lack of Vitamin D.
59 As vitamin D is completely essential for the human body to work, implementing vitamin D in a beer would be a radical improvement and change in beer and beverage consumption, which could differentiate the company from its competitors. There was a study made in 2010 by researchers from the Danish Food Ministry that showed that up to 40 % of Danish adults suffers from a very low level of Vitamin D. It was actually suggested by the Danish Food Ministry that companies should add vitamin D to their products, but that has not happened as in 2021 (fødevareinstituttet, 2010).
As the product will be sold under 100 % biodegradable material, the company will have a chance of improving their brand equity massively. It will help them distinguish as a brand, and help the consumers being able to identify more with the big corporation and relate more to it. It was seen in the focus group interview, that Carlsberg’s brand is seen as a large corporation with a big negative carbon footprint, and by implementing such CSR initiatives, the company will be able to improve their image. Many argues that Carlsberg does not live up to its responsibility in terms of sustainability activities. By launching such a new product with focus on health nutrients and a sustainable bottling, the company will create higher awareness on their corporate identity. They may be able to reduce the negative association with the brand, and therefore in the end, may be able to improve their negative revenue growth (PWC, 2015).
9.3 Evaluation of the proposals
Both proposals are relevant in terms of changing the negative revenue growth, the company is currently experiencing. Both proposals main mission is to improve the company’s brand and to gain new market shares by using product development and innovation as strategies, and by doing so improving the company’s revenue. Both proposals are proactively
implementing the insights from theories, frameworks and interviews conducted, therefore they are tailormade based on the analysis. The first proposal suggests the company to introduce a new type of beer not seen in Scandinavia yet but is growing rapidly in United States. That type of the drink would be an extremely relevant choice of consumption for Scandinavian consumers, as they are very interested in health and calories consumption but is also interested in social events and the Danish “hygge”.
60 This proposal will therefore accommodate immensely to the changing beverage preferences of the future consumers. As Carlsberg will introduce a brand accommodated to the future consumers, the target customers may also be able to identify more with the brand, improving its brand value, hereby also increasing the revenue of the company. The second proposal is focused around introducing a beer with truly macronutrient benefit, namely the Vitamin D.
By doing so, Carlsberg will be able to utilize on the Food Ministry’s declaration to
companies in 2010 to include Vitamin D in companies’ products. This could result in a large media focus on the new product, also improving the company’s brand. As there is a growing demand for healthy products, Carlsberg would tap into this trend, concluding in a revenue increase. Also, as the company would introduce 100 % biodegradable packaging solutions, the company’s corporate identity would improve. As it was told in the focus group interview, the company is not seen as environmentally responsible as beer production requires a
massive amount of water. By having a 100 % sustainable beer bottling, the company’s brand would improve which will be of vital importance for the company’s existence in the future.
The proposal suggested by the researcher for Carlsberg to implement is the first proposal. As it is seen on other markets like Western Europe and United States, low calories beer with a high amount of alcohol is becoming the first choice. If Carlsberg were to implement this in Scandinavia, they would become first mover in a Blue Ocean market. The innovation process is simple, as the ingredients are already available online, and with the huge resources
Carlsberg has within innovation and product development, a light beer with high amount of alcohol should be able to be developed quickly. By entering a Blue Ocean Market as a first-mover, Carlsberg would be able to change their negative revenue growth and rest reestablish themselves as a company only growing, also in revenue numbers.
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