@HeyBeerDan
  • WHO IS "HeyBeerDan?"
  • TITLE INDEX to all articles
  • CONTACT HeyBeerDan

Why does Bud Light refuse to sell beer?

7/7/2016

 
Fresh from announcing its gay-wedding ad (which, in oddly tokenizing fashion, appears not yet to have actually aired on paid major media as promised), Bud Light is now advertising equal pay for women.
That Bud Light so assiduously refuses to sell its beer, preferring to shill one political talking point after another, may seem inexplicable to the average viewer. In fact, though, it's easy enough to explain.

As we noted a year ago, these ads are the product of an ad agency wholly devoted to... itself. The creators are attention whores, but worse, they crave that attention for themselves, far more than for their clients. Talk value, or social-media buzz, has questionable, if any, correlation to growing sales for a brand. But for ad agencies, buzz increases their odds of winning awards and being seen as "hot." Brand people who willingly fund an agency's self-promotion are hopelessly clueless or childishly gullible. 

Sooner, but usually later, most brands do finally wake up. As painful experience after painful experience shows, however, it only happens after millions of advertising dollars have gone down the drain. The fundamental truth eventually dawns on even the most gullible: "Buzz ain't biz," as we put it when we demonstrated* that Budweiser's puppy ads sold no beer. Budweiser wasn't the only big brand to make this discovery after some time.
Picture
*We weren't the first to say it.
And now in an ironic buzz-rebuke, it turns out Bud Light disabled buzz-y comments on YouTube about the equal-pay ad. Both sides of the debate had sounded off online with gusto and a good deal of brand-bashing feedback. For the buzz-record, dislikes were outpacing likes by about 10-1. Viewers were apparently pretty annoyed that the beer brand--take your pick--took a political stand at all/minimized the importance of the issue/got its facts wrong/sought to make money off a debate about women's rights. Unfortunately for Bud Light, this sort of negative buzz apparently can affect sales... negatively.
Picture
Oops.
PictureAdvertising about anything but the beer
Epic fail

Ad-agency self-promotion, misplaced faith in buzz, mixing politics and business are all big mistakes, but none of them represents the Bud Light ad's most consequential weakness.

In failing to include even a hint of anything provocative or unique about the beer, Bud Light essentially admits it has nothing of substance for sale. And since there's nothing distinctive for sale, there's no reason to buy. That's why Bud Light sales continue to languish, and the needle isn't moving. Indeed, it hasn't moved in the right direction since the launch of this buzz-bait campaign several months ago. Contrast this absence of results with stablemate Budweiser's focus on the many reasons to choose the King of Beers. These ads have paid dividends in measured sales increases. Don't Anheuser-Busch brands talk to each other?

Buzz'll get ya 


But if buzz is what motivated Bud Light, they shouldn't despair. There'll probably be a minor buzz-spike when the ad agency inevitably gets its walking papers. Which, given the Anheuser-Busch CEO's focus on real business results, shouldn't be that far off.

If you clicked on the second of three links earlier in this article, you know we posed a question last August. We asked: Has (Bud Light's) new agency learned how to sell beer yet?


It seems we have our answer.


Picture

The first anti-craft, craft beer

7/3/2016

 
PictureNo pumpkin-peach ale
House Beer. American Crafted Lager.

It doesn't look like a craft beer. It doesn't sound like a craft beer. On the market only since 2013, its first-ever advertising just released delivers a straightforward story: Beauty shots of the beer. A gentle knock on seasonal beers common among craft brands. A commitment to just one style, and no light version. Many generic-looking images, from happy drinkers to ingredients to brewing equipment to brewing guys. Tongue-in-cheek announcer. Lots of beer-cans-in-ice shots. A nod to its California hometown. Finally, a serious summary statement: "The perfect beer, pure and simple." In other words, craft beer that's just good beer.

This is the first anti-craft, craft beer.

House beer is craft beer, but without the many overwrought peculiarities of the genre. No goofy label graphics. No smart-alecky brand name. No chocolate or grapefruit flavorings. Hipster-free, too (not a beard among any of the brewing dudes!) No overblown price point. After all, "house wine"--the reference point for the brand name--is defined as "relatively inexpensive wine sold in a restaurant."

​Good wine without pretense, meet your beer cousin.
Picture
House beer may well be yet another signal (beyond the segment's rapidly shrinking growth numbers) of the graying of the craft-beer phenomenon. Not just a low-price option, the brand appears to offer many of the good things associated with craft beer, while removing the aspects of preciousness and the sense of self-righteousness most craft beers have embraced. House really is the anti-craft craft. This is a classic positioning move. When everybody goes one way, there can be opportunity in going the opposite direction. Volkswagen is a classic example.

This is also a competitive coup. House beer can't be easily counter-punched by other craft brands. They have all embraced most of what House has removed from its marketing formula, not least of all top-shelf pricing. Which gives House beer an inviting opportunity all to itself.

Like an end-run, with nothing but open field ahead.

​This is a craft beer brand to watch.

Picture
Forward>>

    Subscribe to New-article updates from HeyBeerDan

    * Note: Certain video links may not function in emailed articles.
    Picture

    The Author

    Dan Fox is a real beer guy.

    For more than half his 30-year career at ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, he ran the Coors Brewing account. Leading a group of dozens of advertising professionals, Dan also personally wrote the Pete Coors "Somewhere near Golden, Colorado" commercials, designed the Coors NASCAR graphics, authored sales-convention speeches, and most important of all, formulated marketing strategy for virtually every Coors brand, including Coors Light, Keystone, Killian's Irish Red and more. His proudest achievement? "Our team had every Coors brand growing at once."

    Over his advertising career, Dan was personally involved in the analysis, planning and creation of thousands of ads for a variety of products and services. By way of this blog, he freely shares his expertise about what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to selling beer.

    If you're in the beer-marketing business--or just interested in the subject--you may want to read what "HeyBeerDan" has to say.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.