Bud Light is ‘coming back’ but controversy is a ‘wake-up call,’ Anheuser-Busch exec says

CNN ^ | 6/20/23 | Matt Egan

[DallasBiff]

CMO Anheuser-Busch USA Marcel Marcondes speaks at the Cannes Lions International Festival June 20, 2019 in Cannes, France.

New York CNN —

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s top marketing executive is speaking out following a monthslong boycott of Bud Light that has cost the brand its title as America’s top-selling beer.

“When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble,” said Marcel Marcondes, Anheuser-Busch’s global chief marketing officer, at a conference on Monday.

Bud Light sales have tumbled since the company’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked an anti-trans backlash and calls for a boycott. The company’s tepid response angered LGBTQ+ advocates, and the episode became ground zero in America’s culture wars.

[MMusson]

Giving away free beer is not a comeback.

[xp38]

Definitely pining for the fjords

[Principled]

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s top marketing executive is speaking out following a monthslong boycott of Bud Light that has cost...

It's not a boycott. People don't want bud light anymore. A boycott is choosing not to buy for a reason other than preference (eg politics).

This isn't a boycott. Beer drinkers simply no longer have a preference for bud light.. They don't want to drink tranny beer. It's not temporary it's permanent.

[Billthedrill]

Things didn't "get divisive and controversial", things were just fine until they were made that way by a marketing staff too entranced with social media to think that the old rules for celebrity endorsement didn't apply to them. You script them and you test them. They did neither.

There was a very brief period - maybe a single week - when this was just about beer and could have been stifled by an embarrassed apology. As Heckler & Koch did - who now even remembers their gaffe? No longer - it immediately morphed into a broad condemnation of the Woke ideology and there it remains, and that is way beyond Blight's marketers' reach. They're stuck and pretending otherwise is futile.

By "stuck" I mean that it's now a decision as to whether it will be more expensive to kill the brand and start over (no mean undertaking) or to ride it out and hope for the best. That's expensive too.

[grey_whiskers]

Maybe Alyssa can try her legendary alcohol marketing skills in Saudi Arabia and Iran next.

Her preliminary marketing packet should be sure to tell them that she’s Jewish and that the brand used transsexual models to market to homosexual men.

Sure to be a winner, right?

[Boogieman]

They might as well at this point. They ain’t getting the normies back, but if they pander enough, they might get the queers to buy their beer.

I did see one guy buying a sixer of Bud Light yesterday, but he looked Middle Eastern so I think he probably has no idea and just liked the dirt cheap price.

[Boogieman]

Seriously. Bring back the Budweiser frogs, that might be their only hope.

[Boogieman]

Well, it’s the “creative marketing” award, not the “successful marketing” award.

[rdcbn1]

Anheuser-Busch USA Marcel Marcondes speaks at the Cannes Lions International Festival

---

Bud CEO making a Bud Light announcement from Cannes? Thinking I'm spotting a a part of the here problem

[TChad]

He said brands in this situation should remain open to learning and understanding their customers.

"Even when they're disgusting transphobic white vermin like our customers."

[ansel12]

Lol, this Bud Light thing is fun to watch for sure.

[Spktyr]

It sure is coming back - coming back up, as in vomit. It *is* Bud Light, after all.

[Spktyr]

Well, it certainly can’t sink right now - it’s sitting in a drydock in China as an uncompleted hull with all work on it stopped. It can’t sink if it’s not in the water.

[Bookshelf]

Its wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble...”
There is no such thing, nor has there ever been, a humble marketer.

[Iron Munro]

[Codeflier]

The answer is ESG. It’s how they are enforcing a type of corporate fascism on us. You have to forget traditional business paradigms. Run afoul of ESG rating bodies, and you may find yourself out of business, even if the market loves your product.

[N. Theknow]

New ad campaign: Build Back Beer

[Iron Munro]

[Dr. Sivana]

Their only strategy is to act like it’s all blown over and no big deal. Let’s prove them wrong.

Beer changes like this stick.

Here's why:
Stores order less, stock less on shelves, other beers take the spot.

MORE IMPORTANTLY:
Restaurants and Bars will eventually change their carried brands, and will not be quick to change back with new printed menus, competitors throwing in promotional signs and lights, etc.

When I was a lad, I was a Pizza Hut cook, and we carried Bud and Lite Beer from Miller, both led their categories. Most restaurants would rather have fewer distributors/vendors to deal with, and when Bud Light was gaining traction, Pizza Hut dropped the then dominant Miller Lite, and Carried the good enough Bud Light. That's what Pizza Hut carries to this day (Yes, there are still sit down Pizza Hut restaurants)

Before New Coke came out, Pepsi was beating Coke in store sales. Coke was still #1 because of its substantial lead in restaurants. The fact is, Pepsi drinkers expect Coke in most restaurants, but a significant number of Coke drinkers WON'T drink Pepsi when out and about. One of the reasons Pepsico had owned fast-food joints was to have a national presence in restaurants (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silver, Hot and Now). Coke countered by telling the mom-and-pops that when you serve Pepsi, you are funding your competition, and that Coke had no interest in owning restaurants.

[Cuttnhorse]

He said brands in this situation should remain open to learning and understanding their customers.”

Dummy, I have a better idea...just give me a call and I'll tell you if what you have in mind for advertising is a good idea.
I coulda saved you a boatload of money and brand disgrace.
Hard to imagine how anyone gets to his level of management while being so stupid.