Posted on 03/14/2004 10:31:08 AM PST by ServesURight
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Software developer Matt Dixon sips beer from a red, white and blue aluminum can in a smoky corner of Betty's Food and Spirits, a dimly lighted hangout for local artists, college students and restaurant workers.
Framed prints of 1950s pinup girls hang on the walls, and ceramic dog figurines line a shelf above the bar, where bartenders pour 13 different microbrews for $3.75 a pint.
But the best-selling beer is the $1.50-a-pint Pabst Blue Ribbon, a former blue-collar favorite decades removed from its heyday.
Pabst Blue Ribbon, or simply "P-B-R" if you're in a hurry to order, is mounting an unlikely comeback in cities across the country. After a steady decline since the 1970s, sales rose about 5 percent in 2002 and 15 percent in 2003.
"It's just cold and refreshing," Dixon says between gulps. "It's not a bad beer. You just have to get beyond the fact that it's what your dad drinks."
In 2001, sales of the 160-year-old brand had fallen to less than 1 million barrels, about one-tenth its peak in 1975, said Pabst Brewing Co. senior brand manager Neal Stewart.
Betty's owner Elizabeth Lessner said distributors laughed at her when she began asking for kegs of Pabst three years ago. Now it's so popular her supplier frequently runs out.
"People are really sick of the Budweiser-type marketing with naked girls and cars. Pabst is kinda hokey and nostalgic and people like it," she said.
The San Antonio-based Pabst Brewing Co.'s marketing strategy - or lack thereof - eschews conventional advertising in favor of generating word-of-mouth buzz.
While you won't find any Pabst Blue Ribbon commercials on NFL telecasts or FM radio, Stewart said you might notice the company sponsoring an art gallery opening or running ads for bands in local publications.
But chances are, the only place you'll see the Pabst logo is at a local bar or convenience store beer aisle: The company's marketing budget is miniscule by industry standards.
In 2002, Pabst spent $427,000 on measured media, which includes television, magazines, billboards, radio and newspapers, said Eric Shepard, citing research by a marketing firm commissioned for his trade publication, Beer Marketer's Insights.
Anheuser Bush spent $419 million and Miller spent $275 million, he said.
Pabst's low-key approach has resonated with customers.
At Betty's, Tanya Brooks ordered a Pabst and explained that she's sick of beer advertising that exploits women. The 28-year-old waitress said she'd be disappointed to ever see a Pabst Blue Ribbon advertising campaign.
"My dad drank PBR. It was never about being sexy," Brooks said. "It's a beer that you drink with your friends."
PBR's packaging also adds to its nostalgic appeal. The ribbon logo is much the same as it was in the early 1900s.
"The sashes coming out from the ribbon have been wider, at times they've been longer, but it's been a slow process," Stewart said. "There's never been drastic changes."
But perhaps as important as the beer's image is its dirt-cheap price.
"You don't have to pay five dollars to have one," Dixon said. "I don't feel like dropping 20 bucks every time to get drunk."
At the Cave, a bar known for live music across the street from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Pabst Blue Ribbon is one of the most popular - and cheapest - beers, said owner Dave Sorrell.
"It's what I drink," he said. "It's just a plain, old, simple beer."
Beer distributors across the country confirm the brand's success but say they don't quite understand it.
In Nashville, Tenn., sales shot up 99 percent in 2003, said DET Distributing Co. general manager John Curley.
"It's almost got this cult-type following," he said. "I have never seen that kind of growth, especially in a brand that's been down and out, and in most people's minds had basically been written off."
On Chicago's north side, Louis Glunz Beer Inc. added Pabst Blue Ribbon to a list of beers it recommends to bars and stores after sales went up by about 35 percent in each of the past two years, said general manager Jerry Glunz.
"All the sudden Pabst was not that kind of beer you had to sell in only the cheap joints anymore," he said.
Stewart said the comeback began about three years ago when young consumers in Portland, Ore., adopted the beer.
There had been no change in marketing. Pabst somehow appealed to trendsetters: punk rockers, people into bluegrass, kayakers and mountain bikers, he said.
The brand is the top seller in Portland's Lutz Tavern, which began carrying it in 1999 to replace a discontinued regional beer.
"It's really popular with not only the college students but also the working class guy and the Social Security crowd," said Lilias Barisich, whose family has operated the bar since 1954.
The revival spread to cities like San Francisco and Seattle before hopping across the country to the Northeast, Stewart said.
By some accounts, its young buyers are rebelling against established, mass-marketed brands.
"There's a theory that there's a niche out here for a consumer that's anti-marketing," said Shepard, Beer Marketer's Insights executive editor.
Despite PBR's success, its parent company is still a distant fourth in the domestic beer market, he said. In 2003, the Pabst Brewing Co. sold an estimated 8 million barrels overall and 1 million barrels of PBR.
By comparison, Anheuser Busch sold about 103 million barrels, Miller 38 million and Coors 22 million, Shepard said.
"It's a nice story for Pabst that Pabst Blue Ribbon has caught on and is quite popular in many markets, but I don't know if any of the major brewers are quaking in their boots," Shepard said.
ON THE NET
Beer Marketer's Insights: http://www.beerinsights.com/
Pabst Brewing Co.: www.pabst.com
The revival spread to cities like San Francisco and Seattle...
By some accounts, its young buyers are rebelling against established, mass-marketed brands.
Just say NO to commie beer.
Fun for the whole family.
L
BTW, I read somewhere once that PBR was the most-exported beer from the USA in terms of volume. Any idea if there's anything to that? Where would I look?
Okay, when did bluegrass lovers become trendsetters? I thought the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" thing had run its course, and bluegrass was once more the province of hypoteloric Appalachian snake handlers and burned-out old hippies.
My kids are very up-to-date on trends and trendsetters, and they laugh and pity me for my love of bluegrass.
-ccm
I really should hit Abuse.
;-)
I used to work in a liquor store (back in the college days) that served an up-and-coming NASCAR racetrack. One day, just before the race, the manager (a redneck woman) laid down the law: no more checks; she was fed up with bad checks and now the policy would be not to take them, no matter who offered them. "I don't care if it's Jesus Christ," she said, "but you never heard me say that, hon."
Next weekend there was a race, and who should come in on my watch but Richard Petty. He took a six pack of Falstaff out of the cooler, came up to the counter and started to write a check.
"I'm sorry," I said, "but I can't take a check."
He grinned and said, "If my check ain't good, the State of Delaware ain't good."
Needless to say, someone wasn't pleased the next day!
And a good thing, too. We need a beer that tastes different with every can. "Schlitz! The beer of diversity!"
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