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.
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, 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?
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.
Will Oculto do better?
Let's just say there's a distinct chance it will.
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