Machel is going back into the Soca Monarch and the fans love it. And that’s all that should matter right? Wrong! Machel has been doing some pretty heavy strategic brand stuff in the past little while, culminating in his withdrawal from Carnival 2010. That was a stroke of genius that used the tried and tested “scarcity strategy” as a means of making his goods more valued and more valuable. Ever tried to buy fish 2 weeks before Easter?
In 2011 he’s ditched the scarcity road and is flooding the market instead. People normally mention Carib and Stag in the beer wars of the mid-eighties. We often forget that there was another beer on the market; a not so small brand called Heineken. Actually, Heineken is probably the beer that’s most available across the globe. Heineken refused to enter the war and was prepared to lose sales if that meant moving away from the “premium quality positioning”. They figured that you could not be “premium” and be selling for $2.50 tt in every nook and cranny.
So I think Machel has gone off of his “premium” strategy and is discounting his brand. Doing it so soon after his “scarcity strategy” of last year makes his brand look schizophrenic. He’s opened a factory outlet right after opening a store on 5th Avenue. He’s going for short term sales at the expense of his brand’s long term health. But he’s a genius so maybe we are witnessing the new marketing. He will win the Soca Monarch’s $2 million and will his brand also win?
