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Remember when changing a beer's recipe was a recipe for disaster?

11/16/2013

 
Maybe it still is.

In my time in the beer business, it was considered a brewing lesson-learned for the ages: When Schlitz management decided to change their brewing recipe for the beer that made Milwaukee famous--then the second-largest beer in the country (sometime in the 70s, as I recall)--their decision effectively killed the brand.  From that point on, the gusto was gone, drinkers defected in droves, and the sales slide was continuous and fairly steep.  Schlitz drinkers figured correctly that the reason for the recipe change was cost-reduction, and responded with a near-universal: "Screw that."

Ever since, the industry took this case study to heart, and the "Never acknowledge a change to the brewing recipe" lesson was etched into the copper of Big Beer's brew kettles, figuratively speaking.  Pretty much until a year ago.

About this time last year, Anheuser-Busch management publicly announced they would be making some changes on Budweiser to increase profitability (BloombergBusinessweek), including:

"Us(ing) broken rice instead of whole grains in (the) beer...." and 
"Cut(ting) purchases of high-quality hops, like those from Germany's Hallertau region, in favor of cheaper hops."

Subsequent assurances from the company included: none of this would change the taste of the beer/they had so great a quantity of the more expensive European hops on hand, they could afford to reduce purchases/they remained absolutely committed to quality. 

Or, as Budweiser itself always put it...
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Hmmmm.  It would appear the "costs-so-much-to-brew gap" between Budweiser and lesser beers had narrowed just a bit.

So, which is it?  Is the old brewing lesson-learned just so much beer biz hokum, or is beer-recipe-changing a bean-counter's bullet-to-the-brand?

Here's a novel idea: Let's do some research!

Q: If I were to tell you, my Budweiser-dinking friend, that today's Budweiser is now being made from cracked rice rather than whole-grain rice, and that the "choicest hops" referred to on the Budweiser label no longer include the more expensive European hops, how would you respond?

Any predictions on the research results?
Patrick Conboy link
11/18/2013 02:31:41 am

Hey.Beer. Dan.

With a shorted Euro, perceptions of all American lagers to be thin watery concoctions, and a holding company's desire to turn a profit with growing brands it appears InBev is "harvesting" Bud as a mature brand with little growth potential. Where will their investment spend land? Bud Light for American tastes? Re-emerging craft? It appears Bud, once king, is not considered long-standing royalty for these Belgian businessmen.

H.B.D.
11/18/2013 03:54:37 am

Good points every one, sir.

I'd only debate the "mature brand" notion. When do Cheerios or BMW or Tide become "mature?"

Marketing is all about ideas... and optimism. In that vein, there ought to be one heckuva lot of idea energy going into the resurgence of BigBeer's biggest assets.


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    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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