Challenge
Abita Brewing, a Louisiana-based craft brewery with nearly three decades of experience, faced a common challenge among regional players: limited visibility into market dynamics beyond their own sales and depletion data.
“We could get some scope from our distributor partners,” says Leo Basile, VP of Sales at Abita Brewing, “but it wasn’t a finite view. We had no line of sight to rate of sale or how our performance stacked up against competitors.”
Without granular insights into consumer behavior, product velocity, or competitive benchmarks, Abita struggled to make informed decisions about product innovation, retail strategy, and marketing investments.
Solution
Abita turned to NIQ’s Byzzer™ platform, integrating it with their existing iDig system to unlock a comprehensive view of the market.
“The speed and granularity of the data were game-changers,” Basile explains. “We could finally understand what was happening in our market—down to pack size, style, and retailer—especially in our core region.”
Now, Basile uses Byzzer to stay ahead of the curve—tracking overall brand performance, evaluating new product launches, and monitoring weekly share data to spot competitive shifts. To stay proactive, he set up Byzzer Alerts: automated notifications that flag changes in performance for Abita and its competitors, enabling quick, strategic responses.
Byzzer enabled Abita to:
- Analyze weekly share trends and competitive shifts
- Identify high-performing styles and pack formats
- Support distributor partners with targeted data
- Build compelling sell sheets for retail pitches
- Inform internal education and strategic planning
Impact
One of Abita’s biggest wins came from leveraging NIQ data to expand distribution of its Gator Series, a high-gravity, high-flavor product line.
“We used the data to show a chain how our Gator Series ranked #1, #4, and #6 in the 19.2 oz category in Mississippi food,” Basile recalls. “They didn’t give us everything we asked for—but they gave us what we needed: two key states and 50–60 new pods in Alabama.”
The data also helped Abita reverse its traditional go-to-market strategy. “Before COVID, we built brands on-premise and then expanded off-premise,” Basile says. “Now, we use off-premise data to drive on-premise placements. It’s a complete flip—and it’s working.”
Looking Ahead
Abita plans to use NIQ data to guide future innovation, including potential expansion into malt beverages, sodas, and RTDs. “We don’t get all the data yet, but we know where to go when we need it,” Basile says. “NIQ is our one-stop shop.”
Advice to Other Brands
Basile’s advice to other companies considering NIQ: “If you’re not accessing data, you’re behind. Entry-level access is better than nothing, but understanding and using the data is what drives results. Nielsen data with an action plan means a lot.”
He also emphasizes the importance of having someone internally who can truly own the data. “Even if you’re a small company and you access Nielsen, what I would say is put somebody in charge of understanding it completely,” he says. “Get it—and then, more importantly, understand it and use it.”
