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

HeyBeerDan re-gifts: A four-pack for your year-end enjoyment

12/26/2015

 
Picture
'Tis the season for re-gifting
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...
Picture
Click on the image for the full article.
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...
Picture
Click on the image for the full article.
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...
Picture
Click on the image for the full article.
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...
Picture
Click on the image for the full article.
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!

Picture

Bud Light's new can embraces product distinctiveness; will its advertising do likewise?

12/18/2015

 
Picture
Picture
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?

PictureBud Light's old design
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.

Picture
Beechwood Aging... never before mentioned on Bud Light
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."
Picture
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.

Picture
Our holiday wish to all our readers and friends.
Picture
<<Previous

    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.