A-B Pits Americana Against 'Foreign Beers'

CHICAGO August Busch IV had whipped up the crowd of Anheuser-Busch distributors into a frenzy with an impassioned speech, promising that the No. 1 brewer would tell America the truth about those "foreign beers," namely SABMiller-owned Miller Brewing and Molson Coors. A-B had lost only a speck of its national market share, 49.4 percent last year versus 49.5 percent in 2003. But Busch, president of the beer division, and Mike Owens, vice president of sales and marketing, spoke during the annual wholesalers conference in San Diego, March 21-23, with urgency, as if Miller—whose Miller Lite outgained Bud Light in 2004 10.5 percent to 3.7 percent—occupied the category's top slot, and the St. Louis brewer had to grab its lead back. Miller's share is 18.5 percent, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. Distributors already were feeling good before Busch's battle cry speech on March 22 because company executives already announced that they would lighten up with equity contract compliance. Wholesalers now could spend more time selling beer and rolling out new product and less time dealing with redundancies like brewer audits and ride-alongs to customer accounts with A-B reps. The audience was standing by the time a full complement of Clydesdales pulling the Budweiser wagon charged onto the raised convention center stage. They watched the convention hall big screens as Busch walked to the floor where his father August III, chairman, sat, and knelt before him in homage. The senior Busch was visibly moved to tears. "That was awesome," said a Southwest distributor, who added that the gathering was the best conference he had ever attended. A Midwest wholesaler said, "I don't know what [IV kneeling before III] was all about, but it seemed like a spontaneous gesture." Maybe August Busch IV's ascendancy to top executive was on the line. But if his test was to energize the brewer's distribution channel, he passed. "It's a piece of [expletive] to desecrate our industry and our country, and now we have to go after them," said another wholesaler, referring to Miller. "Enough is enough. It's been over a year now with those ads attacking our beer. And when has there ever been a company that comes up against the pre-introduction of a competitor's product [Bud Select] and trashes it." Miller ran a comparative spot that pit Lite against Bud, Bud Lite and Bud Select before Select started national distribution during late February. A-B will not answer Miller as it did last year with the "Queen of Carbs" ads or with commercials like the ones that aimed to blur the message of its rival's referee spots with similar executions. But it will play up the fact that A-B is the only major American-owned brewer, now that Golden, Colo.-based Coors has finalized its merger with Montreal-based Molson. SABMiller is based in London. TV spots previewed at the conference played up Americana, but avoided a jingoistic tone. One execution featured A-B employees to demonstrate the brewer is an American family company. Heritage spots proclaimed A-B is part of what America is all about. Another ad sees August Busch IV talking about how his grandfather wanted to ship Budweiser to the West but couldn't do so because there were no means to ship beer cold across the country. So the brewer created refrigeration train cars. The "freshness" initiative will get center stage in another August Busch IV spot in which he mentions how freshness has always been an A-B legacy and the brewer tries to make available the freshest beer possible. The signature situational humor for Bud and Bud Light advertising will continue; new Michelob Ultra work will again pit the battle of the sexes in physical contests set in the context of beach volleyball and surfing, and Bud Select work will shift from product-focused to guy and girl moments. Like all marketers looking for more reach than network TV can provide, A-B will follow its core 21-27-year-old target by increasing its spend on cable and satellite TV placement. The brewer also will hit more specialty print publications like Running, Fitness and Shape and hone in on women consumers by including Cosmopolitan in the media mix for Michelob Ultra, Michelob Light and Bud Light. Satellite radio and iPod casting also were mentioned as alternative media pursuits and—emboldened by Web traffic generated after the probably premeditated yanking of the "wardrobe malfunction" spot from the Super Bowl roster—there will be more Internet initiatives this year. Dollar details were vague, but A-B executives pledged that Bud Light's cost per million would exceed Miller Lite's CPM by more than 40 percent and A-B overall ad spending, as usual, would be significantly more than SABMiller. A senior manager also seemed to leave the door open to the possibility of discounting by declaring that 2005 will be a volume year. "[Miller] picked a fight with the wrong guy," said another wholesaler. "We're going to sell as much as we can, and St. Louis is determined that we are going to be up on volume.

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A-B Pits Americana Against 'Foreign Beers'

Mike Beirne

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