Distinctiveness: Prerequisite to beer-brand success

11/11/2014

Even with a tasty brew in the bottle, predicting new-product success in the beer business is an iffy proposition at best. But finding real and clever ways to stand out from the pack is a key requisite. In fact, if distinctiveness is the heart of marketing, it is the absolute soul of new-product success.

Anheuser-Busch's recently announced "Oculto."

Case in point: Oculto, the just-announced new brand from Anheuser-Busch.

Designed to capitalize on the fast-growing popularity of Mexican beers, consider its points of distinctiveness (in addition to being imported):

- Ingredients: Infused with flavor from the blue agave plant, the source of tequila.

- Process: Blended with beer aged with wood from tequila barrel staves.

- Imagery: White skull label iconography, capturing a Día de Muertos/Day of the Dead vibe.

- Name: "Oculto" sounds both mysterious and mildly threatening.

- Schtick: The "eyes" on the skull glow green when the beer is cold.

For contrast, consider another recent new beer brand,
Miller Fortune, on the same criteria.

Miller Fortune's fortune: No "scale."

Designed to capitalize on the growth in popularity of hard liquor among young adults,
but where was the distinctiveness?

- Ingredients: None featured.

- Process: Though no specifics were provided, it was called "undistilled." (But then, no beer is ever distilled.)

- Imagery: Blackness (like Budweiser Black Crown, among others.)

- Name: Possibly a veiled booze reference to Fortune Brands which owns Jim Beam.

- Schtick: Recommended serving the beer in a "rocks glass" as you would straight liquor.

Different fortunes?

When "schtick" is a brand's most distinctive feature, it's not a good sign. In the words of the people who created it, after a year, Miller Fortune "failed to achieve scale." This is PR spin for "It was a much smaller idea than we thought." Others outside the MillerCoors world pronounced it a complete loser.

Will Oculto do better?

Let's just say there's a distinct chance it will.

1 Comment

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11/27/2017 12:50:22 am

Beer is a beverage that I would never drink. I grew up in a family that is very strict and one of the rules was that we are not allowed to drink any alcoholic drinks. My friends actually feel bad for me because they keep on telling me that I am missing out on a lot of fun things. I beg to differ. I believe that I can have fun without drinking beer because I have a different definition of what fun is.

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.

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