Year's end is the time when lists get compiled. The year's best sports teams, best movies, best new products and more get chronicled in the press. Apparently, there's something irresistible about such lists.

Tempted as we've been to enter this list-making fray, we've resisted... until now. But since we have our own holiday celebrating to do, we've decided to have just one list, and just one entry on that list. This, of course, cuts down on our work, but it also respects the time demands on you, the reader.

So we've chosen to focus on the dumbest statement made by a beer-industry executive in 2017. As fate would have it, without having to do a bunch of research, the hands-down dumbest quote just arrived in our mailbox courtesy of Beer Marketers Insights. We owe them our thanks for this remarkable time-saver.

The "winner" is...

From the guy responsible for marketing the largest beer brand in the country, a brand that continues to post sales declines of 5-6%--a staggering (!) 1.9 million barrels of beer volume lost in the current year alone--comes this...

Clearly management is desperate to find good news... any good news. The brand is on its third or fourth consecutive advertising campaign, each one aimed at reversing the sales decline. And each one--including the latest, "Dilly-Dilly"-- a failure on that account. Sales continue to fall. And so the marketing geniuses seize on two "measures" they believe are moving in the right direction: buzz, and enthusiasm by their ad-agency's creative people. 

Desperation, meet stupidity

Measure #1: As we have chronicled before, "buzz"--the talk on the street, or on television, or even in games being played in bars-- has no marketing value unless it is correlated to sales gains, the only consequential measure of marketing success. By itself, buzz ain't biz.

Measure #2: Citing creative people having a good time making these insipid Dilly-Dilly ads, and suggesting their "having a blast" is somehow good for Bud Light, is an obscene insult to marketing in general. Heck, it's insulting to anyone with an I.Q. above single digits. Ad-agency creative people are paid handsome salaries to create advertising that sells beer. "Having a blast" is what they do after work, over alcohol beverages (although rarely beer) and banned substances. But maybe in this particular case they should be giddy. After all, they have a client so clueless as to spend millions and, rather than hold them accountable for sales results, he celebrates their... celebrating.

The end 

This will all end badly. If Bud Light's ads haven't improved sales by now, adding more of the same sort of pointless humor won't move the needle. Of course, that won't stop the marketing folks, just as they continued to spend on the three earlier failed campaigns. Such is desperation in extremis. So, expect more of these ads.

Just remember, the ad-agency people are really enjoying themselves!

So proclaimed Beer Marketers Insights this week, announcing that Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, Michigan had joined the ranks of the top-ten craft beers in America... with a bang!

​Founders has been posting double-digit growth numbers for some time, and this year it recorded the largest volume gain of any craft brewery. The vast majority of this remarkable growth arose from a single offering: All Day IPA Session Ale.

Founders All Day enjoyed a sine qua non (without this, nothing) marketing advantage from its inception. We said as much when we featured the brand and made our prediction nearly five years ago. How could we be so confident? Easy. The session IPA product idea arose from a category need that existed long before Founders was... um, founded. That need--to be able to consume more beer without losing one's edge--had been the powerhouse marketing idea behind highly successful brands like Schaefer's ("The one beer to have when you're having more than one") and Coors Light ("No slowin' down with the Silver Bullet.") Bringing this "extended-consumption benefit" to craft beer was arguably an even more powerful notion since most craft brands were high alcohol and heavy-tasting, two features that compromise the multiple-beer experience. This strategic opportunity was there for any craft brewery to grab, but only Founders was sharp enough to take full advantage of it.

To be sure, the Founders folks created a wonderful beer with lower alcohol levels (4.7% ABV) to deliver on the session-ale promise. Its slight hint of grapefruit flavor even suggests the summer peak selling season vibe. We would never minimize the role of product quality in a brand's success. That said, there are way more quality products out there than there are brands posting Founders kind of success. The difference? Founders identified and delivered on a key, proven benefit others had simply abandoned. And their "All Day" brand name registered product distinctiveness beautifully. When we spotted their insight and their execution, we were confident enough they had a winner to conclude our 2013 article with "Bet on it."

​Yes, we're patting ourselves on the back here. But more important, we're patting Founders on the back for a classic marketing success that has rocked the craft beer category.