Volinbham Talks Marketing and Bud Light

#76
#76
volinbham said:
Bud Light Seltzer has the Bud Light name but appeals to a different audience. Ditching Bud Light beer but keeping the Bud Light name on Seltzer just doesn't make sense.
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These seltzers are new enough that they haven't generated enough brand loyalty where they can't simply remove the Bud Lite name or just call it Bud Seltzer. Yeah I get it... there is likely a cost associated with changing brand name. But still, whenever most people think of "Bud Lite", they are going to think of this incident. But then again, the demographics that drink the seltzer are likely not the same folks that are more accepting of the alternative lifestyle, so it may not be a big deal to those folks.

My personal bias kind of has me leaning towards destroying Bud Lite simply because it is crappy "beer" and it would simply be better, imo, to put better product out there anyways. But most American "beer" drinkers love that stuff. I'm not even a beer snob and I haven't had a beer in close to 2 years. Bur if this incident causes some of these people to stop drinking Bud Lite and going to other options, I guess that would be an interesting outcome. Sure, the overwhelming majority will just go from Bud Lite to Coors or Miller or whatever, but you may actually get a few more that expand their options and go to local breweries.
 
#77
#77
PKT_VOL said:
Great thread.



It was almost certainly a combination between 1 and 2. Scenario 1 for females and scenario 2 for males (generally speaking).



The bold is key. Given that it was a combination of scenarios 1 and 2, their best hope was to hold on market share of an ever shrinking pie and try to make up for the shrinking pie by strategically increasing their portfolios to tap those trends away from macro light beer (Bud Light). Thus, there was no need to go for a risky play to try an expand their customer base in scenario 3 as that was not reality.

Other macro light beers (Miller and Coors) have subtly reached out to the LBGT community without making it controversial or the center point of their brand. Bud Light's plan was quite simply the worst tactical plan imaginable for trying to wade into a controversial arena.
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This.

The reason for the stagnation in BL sales is absolutely a combo of #1 and #2. Their marketing VP at the center of this totally misidentified the reason for the brand's decline; it has nothing to do with it being too "fratty" or "not inclusive."

If AB wants to reach out to a woke crowd, they should have done it with another one of their brands, many of which are craft brands that they have acquired. Hell, many folks in the craft beer crowd are sympathetic to left-leaning causes; that isn't exactly a conservative crowd politically.

Not only did they misidentify the reasons for the brand's decline, they also totally misread the sensibilities of fans of that brand. Just a total failure of Marketing 101.
 
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#78
#78
LouderVol said:
To me I think they could have gone the DEI/Mulvaney route if they had been smart with it. As VB mentioned, part of the issue was perception vs reality. Just because BL added Mulvaney didn't mean they were necessarily dropping the middle America base. But the perception was Mulvaney was now the face of BL, and that may not have been the case. A more broad campaign that introduced Mulvaney alongside a, or a series of, more typical BL personas would have largely avoided the perception that BL was dropping middle America.

But the impression got out that Mulvaney was the new face, and the sudden transition, pun slightly intended, didn't go their way. If they had taken their time, brought Mulvaney into the "lexicon" of BL marketing while also maintaining their existing image it would have been far more passable.

Maybe some of the typical commercials with Mulvaney just making a cameo. Maybe just the clink of the beer cans at the end of video, or standing around the cooler talking. Introducing her as a standalone character/persona was going to change the narrative regardless of anything the VP said, imo. They could have gradually built her up into her own ad-persona and most people wouldn't have cared.
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Mulvaney is not a her any more than I am an astronaut. And he is toxic. Especially now.
 
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#79
#79
Saw a snippet of one of the late shows last night, think it was Colbert and it was making fun of the people that stopped buying BL. Since they did it on one I'm sure all 3 networks late show had something similar. IMO that isn't helping BL sales and is doing more damage to the brand.
 
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#82
#82
WOW, a simple apology might (might) have been enough to salvage something (and I guess firing everyone involved). Might be too late for that.



 
#83
#83
It looks like the "boycott" of bud light was pretty short-lived. I guess more time is needed to see the full long-term effects.

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#84
#84
I don’t know what was moved off, but Bud Light is now on the Mount Rushmore of marketing flubs along with New Coke (or was New Coke a brilliant troll job to prop up ‘Classic’ Coke?). Subway/Jared still holds a spot.
 
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#85
#85
Matt2496 said:
It looks like the "boycott" of bud light was pretty short-lived. I guess more time is needed to see the full long-term effects.

View attachment 550043
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I would speculate that a lot of Leftists that had never tasted a BL ran out and made purchases to support the “In Your Face, MAGA” cause. Their choices will revert to fancy micro-brews in short order.
 
#87
#87
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I don’t know what was moved off, but Bud Light is now on the Mount Rushmore of marketing flubs along with New Coke (or was New Coke a brilliant troll job to prop up ‘Classic’ Coke?). Subway/Jared still holds a spot.[/QSunday?
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I think Subway is different, they didn't know he was a Democrat
 
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#89
#89
85SugarVol said:
More fallout from a poorly thought out Marketing decision?

Chicago Gay Bars Stop Selling Bud Light, Other Anheuser-Busch Beers After Brand Backs Down To Anti-Trans Critics
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Once AB stepped into this mess ,VOLUNTARILY mind you, there was no way out without doing damage to the brand. If they continue silence, they keep losing right wing customers and if they take ANY steps to try and bring those customers back, they lose left wing customers. They are in the classic no win scenario and I for one am enjoying watching them twist in the wind over their own unforced error. Maybe this will finally be an object lesson that corporate America will heed
 
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#90
#90
OrangeTsar said:
Once AB stepped into this mess ,VOLUNTARILY mind you, there was no way out without doing damage to the brand. If they continue silence, they keep losing right wing customers and if they take ANY steps to try and bring those customers back, they lose left wing customers. They are in the classic no win scenario and I for one am enjoying watching them twist in the wind over their own unforced error. Maybe this will finally be an object lesson that corporate America will heed
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I highly doubt it.
 
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#91
#91
OrangeTsar said:
Once AB stepped into this mess ,VOLUNTARILY mind you, there was no way out without doing damage to the brand. If they continue silence, they keep losing right wing customers and if they take ANY steps to try and bring those customers back, they lose left wing customers. They are in the classic no win scenario and I for one am enjoying watching them twist in the wind over their own unforced error. Maybe this will finally be an object lesson that corporate America will heed
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I think it’s clear at this point that they have angered both ideological wings of the debate.
 
#95
#95
At some point in time, someone is going to write a book about how to kill a business, and this example will be in chapter one.
 
#98
#98
OrangeTsar said:
Once AB stepped into this mess ,VOLUNTARILY mind you, there was no way out without doing damage to the brand. If they continue silence, they keep losing right wing customers and if they take ANY steps to try and bring those customers back, they lose left wing customers. They are in the classic no win scenario and I for one am enjoying watching them twist in the wind over their own unforced error. Maybe this will finally be an object lesson that corporate America will heed
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Which is why I said early on that they need to retire the brand name "Bud Light". But no... Boomer/Late GenX-er wanted to keep the name brand...
 
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