What do you do when you’ve already mastered your corner of the marketplace? You diversify.
That’s what two big name beverage companies are currently trying to do. Keurig has done so well in the single-serve coffee segment that its name is basically synonymous with that market. And Anheuser-Busch InBev is the company behind successful beer brands like Budweiser and Corona.
Now, the two companies are partnering up to bring consumers something a little different — a machine that brews single servings of beer and other alcoholic beverages.
This idea potentially solves problems for both companies. For InBev, the popularity of craft beer has taken a chunk out of the profits of its more mainstream beer brands. So coming up with a unique way for customers to enjoy its more standard varieties could potentially bump those profits back up.
And Keurig recently experienced a major setback in its efforts to diversify. It launched a new system called Kold, which was basically a Keurig machine that could brew soda instead of coffee. So if the beer-brewing system takes off, all the time and money it spent developing the Kold technology won’t be for naught.
Reaping the Benefits of Collaborative Innovation
Of course, consumers would have to actually be interested in a product like this for any of those problems to really be solved. And their level of interest still remains to be seen. But regardless, this example of collaborative innovation demonstrates how companies large and small can diversify their products by each offering something the other lacks.
Image: Keurig
