Hopefully, you see this as a win-win.
Cheers! See you next year!
This year, we combine two holiday traditions, year-end retrospectives and holiday re-gifting. Our re-gift to you is a look at four articles we're especially fond of from 2015. You get to see (or re-see) what we think were particularly noteworthy moments of ours. And we get to spend way less time actually preparing gifts. Hopefully, you see this as a win-win. First is our article from back in February in which we speculated that craft-beer children whining at the unfairness of being made an object of scorn in BigBeer's advertising might actually indicate a coming of age of sorts... In June we addressed the notion of authenticity in advertising. We looked at different routes a number of advertisers took toward establishing this key feature for their brands. Of course we looked at beer brands, too, touching on things authentic, from horses to mountain streams... In March our attention turned to the kind of ads the ad guys really love: ads that win awards. Often hilarious and always entertaining, this sort of advertising only misses one important requirement. All too often, it doesn't sell anything... At SuperBowl time last year, we got a very pleasant surprise: a first-rate, in-market tutorial on how to make an effective beer ad. Unexpectedly, it came from a beer brand that had spent millions over the years on ads that were always entertaining, but almost never effective. We cited the four points that made this remarkable shift in direction so noteworthy... Here's hoping you enjoyed these four re-gifts. And remember, re-gifting a quality re-gift is a special sort of honor, so feel free to pass it along. Cheers! See you next year! ![]() Released yesterday, Bud Light's new can artwork caused something of a stir. Among the more interesting critiques was Business Insider suggesting the design "looks like craft beer." Craft beer labels have long celebrated the distinctiveness of the beer inside their bottles and cans emphasizing ingredients, processes and heritage while BigBeer chose stylish simplicity and nearly message-free designs, especially on the light beer brands. Could it be Bud Light really has learned something important from the crafties? ![]() Clever new product messaging In our view, the most intriguing change lies in the messaging on the label. Gone is the fatuous generic beer claim "smooth & refreshing." On the new design, several product-distinctiveness message points are visible. The first makes beer history: "Beechwood aging," long a claim made for parent Budweiser, but never-before employed on Bud Light, is included. Next, the beer is described as a "light-bodied lager" with a "characteristic crisp, clean finish, and a smooth...." (The remaining description is tantalizingly illegible in the only photograph so far released.) Finally, below the new logo, is a another product-distinctiveness message: "Always brewed using the choicest hops, best barley malt, and rice." That's a lot of distinctiveness for the advertising people to work with! What's it all mean for Bud Light's new ads? We won't have long to wait to see how--or whether--these product-distinctiveness claims get dramatized in the Bud Light advertising reportedly being prepared for a SuperBowl debut. There has been a good deal of speculation and some hype about the role of celebrities and humor in these new ads. But unless the laughs and the big stars somehow feature and celebrate the distinctiveness of the beer inside these blue cans, the most important lesson from the craft brewers-- that product-distinctiveness sells beer--will have been wasted. If that happens, the big loser at the big game will be a big beer. |
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The AuthorDan Fox is a real beer guy. Archives
May 2018
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