Molson has unveiled a two-pronged attack on the Canadian beer market to regain lost market share, which will include a new international brand arrival and a revamp of an old domestic favourite.

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The company yesterday launched the Brazilian beer brand Bavaria onto the Canadian market.  It acquired the brand when it bought Brazil’s second-biggest brewer last year and it is the company’s first wholly-owned import into the country.


Bavaria is a 4.5% beer sold in a clear bottle and is designed to compete in the crowded super-premium beer category, which is growing at some 20%, a welcome boost to the beer industry which is otherwise fairly flat.


Molson president Dan O’Neill said: “We seem to be losing share to a lot of these other [imports] who come in. If this [market] continues to grow, we have to be a player there.”


Molson, which also distributes import brands such as Heineken and Corona in Canada, will not have an easy ride as Canada is awash with imported beer brands. There is also some fear that the new launch may cannibalise other brands in the portfolio, such as Corona.

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However the company also intends to focus on its domestic brands this year. And it announced that it was also launching a major marketing push for its flagship Canadian brand beer.


O’Neill said that in order to regain market share for the brand, the company would have to refocus on Molson Canadian’s advertising.


“We have to come back and refocus on Canadian. This will really be the summer for Canadian and Bavaria,” he said.


“It will be a two-pronged approach but it will be strong.”