Dire Straits For Ole Bud Light
Gabriel Steinhardt
Founder, Author, Public Speaker. Developer of the Blackblot Product Manager's Toolkit? (PMTK) Methodology
Recap and perspectives on one of the biggest marketing blunders in the history of US consumer packaged?goods
Introduction
The recent Bud Light fiasco and the shambolic handling of its aftermath will be the subject of future business cases studied at MBA schools.
This review offers a recap and perspectives on one of the biggest marketing blunders in the history of US consumer packaged goods.
New Brand?Partner
It all started with Bud Light, a US beer brand, collaborating with 26-year-old Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender person with a large social media following.
Mulvaney was designated Bud Light’s Brand Partner, reportedly earning $50,000 to $80,000 per each sponsored social media post.
Produced with the aid of Captiv8, a San Mateo, CA, ad agency that specializes in influencer marketing, Mulvaney posted on TikTok a March Madness (US basketball tournament) promotional video message while holding a custom-made Bud Light canister with their face on the beer can.
Unexpected Consequences
The reaction to the promotion was a swift and devastating boycott of Bud Light.
As of now, Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, saw its market capitalization reduced by $30 Billion and Bud Light’s sales by volume (units sold) declined by 30% and revenue down by 25%.
In response, Bud Light came out with a “traditional” advertisement featuring a majestic Clydesdale horse, a likely attempt to reinforce old brand values.
However, the horse ad was ineffective, met with ridicule, and spawned parody horse ad videos and parody songs on YouTube.
Attempts to heavily discount the beverage also backfired. Boxes of 18-pack Bud Light on sale for $2.99 were mocked on social media. Very few boxes were sold.
Rebates that effectively made 15-pack cases of Bud Light and Budweiser free (final price of $0) were overlooked by many.
The low demand is forcing Anheuser-Busch to buy back from beer distributors beer cans that made it beyond their expiration dates.
The Marketing VP
Much of the blame over the current debacle is leveled at Bud Light marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid, the first woman to lead the Bud Light beer brand. Her reported annual salary is $450,000.
Characterized on social media as an overachiever with a superior attitude, Heinerscheid holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Harvard and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Critics opined that Heinerscheid, a white-collar, liberal, elitist, well-compensated, subway-riding, young marketing executive living and working from home in an $8 million luxury apartment near Central Park, NY, either disdains or misunderstands Bud Light’s blue collar, mid-west conservatives, Chevy/Ford pickup driving, median to low-income customers and the beverage product they consume.
Others suggest that Heinerscheid is merely inexperienced to assume a top-level marketing position.
In a recorded interview, Heinerscheid stated she wants to take the Bud Light brand in a different direction and bring it to a new and younger audience. She may have succeeded in her mission but at a significant cost.
Heinerscheid and her boss, Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch’s VP for mainstream brands, took an extended leave of absence from the company.
But Heinerscheid is likely to be the executor of a corporate policy, not her own making.
At stake is Anheuser-Busch’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) rating, which the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ political lobbying group in the world, oversees.
The CEI is a part of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) ethical investing movement promoted by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Bank, the top three investment firms in the USA.
It’s possible Anheuser-Busch was trying to appeal to these large investment firms who are among Anheuser-Busch’s top shareholders.
What Next
Analysts say that Bud Light alienated its traditional customer base with the Mulvaney partnership and that its iconic brand image and associated values, painstakingly reinforced over 80 years of creative marketing and targeted advertising, could never recover.
Anheuser-Busch’s distributors and shareholders have taken huge losses, so it is possible that lawsuits are being prepared against Anheuser-Busch and its management.
For quite some time, the Bud Light brand and Anheuser-Busch adopted LGBTQ-friendly policies and associated themselves with related causes, donating to and sponsoring pride parades.
Now Bud Light marketing is attempting to leverage American patriotism, sponsoring a veterans group for the first time and making commercials appearances in American Football and country music events.
It’s not working.
Bud Light is still the number one-selling beer brand in the USA and has been so for twenty years.
However, as a result of the boycott and rapidly growing sales of competing beer products from Coors, Miller, Yuengling, Heineken, Modelo, and others, it is likely that Bud Light will eventually be dethroned from its top position.
Because of declining sales, Bud Light will lose shelving space at major retailers, supermarkets, bars, sports events, etc. It will be hard to recapture that market.
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Listing the?Mistakes
At first glance, and with the aid of hindsight, which is always 20/20, the mistakes that led to Bud Light’s decline include the wrong VP of marketing, the wrong ad agency, the wrong ad, the wrong brand partner, the wrong message and values, wrong positioning, wrong target market, and the wrong corporate business policies.
Anheuser-Busch’s failure to issue an apology or take any meaningful corrective action to reclaim its brand and traditional customer base is exacerbating the brand’s ruination.
With no appeasement or apology from Anheuser-Busch, the backlash and boycott against Bud Light will grow.
The downfall of Bud Light is being relentlessly debated, analyzed, and over-analyzed. This will continue.
Unconventional Insights
There are superficial lessons learned for product management from the Bud Light saga in the realm of product marketing.
But interestingly, there are some unconventional and noticeable insights to be explored.
Pedigree — Brendan Whitworth, the US CEO of Anheuser-Busch, has impressive credentials.
Whitworth’s background includes serving in the US Marine Corps and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Whitworth lives in Manhattan, NY, near central park.
Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch’s VP for mainstream brands, holds an MBA from Virginia Darden School of Business and lives in New York City.
Alissa Heinerscheid, the VP of Marketing for Bud Light, studied at Harvard and Wharton and lives in New York City.
Scathing criticism has been directed at the executive trio from New York City, calling into question their merit and pointing out how distant their personal profiles are from their customers.
Name-dropping and pedigree are part of the recruiting process in the USA.?
To a certain extent, where you studied and worked is used to imply merit and suitability.
Studying at Harvard or working for Google can mean the world or absolutely nothing.
In other words, while pedigree can be relevant and reflective, never trust pedigree and never forget to check for substance.
Buzzwords — Heinerscheid is a well-rehearsed communicator who used the expected language and buzzwords in video interviews but definitively was not saying much.
It sounds like this: ”.?.?.passionate.?.?.enthusiastic.?.?.great.?.?.future.?.?.diversity.?.?.inclusivity.?.?.culture.?.?.awesome.?.?. evolution.?.?.impactful.?.?.incredible.?.?.trust.”
There were lots of “Me” and “I” interspersed in Heinerscheid’s answers.
This type of rhetoric is wasteful and relatively meaningless.
A true professional communicates, writes and talks, clearly and concisely: no buzzwords or self-centered claims.
Politics — politics is a contentious domain, with every issue argued by proponents and opponents entrenched in strong convictions.
To boost sales and as a marketing tactic, some companies associate themselves and their products with various political topics and social justice issues such as diversity, inclusion, gender, women, race, minorities, climate change, inequality, etc.
This marketing tactic has minimal impact and is relatively inconsequential to buying decisions.
In Bud Light’s case, this marketing tactic turned disastrous.
Politics and consumer marketing don’t go well together.
Politically appealing to one market segment automatically means alienating another market segment.
If you want to deal in politics, run for office and become a politician. Otherwise, focus on your company, work, and product.
Summary
It’s dire straits for ole Bud Light.
The future of Bud Light is uncertain, as the brand faces an unrelenting backlash from its formerly loyal customers.
Bud Light may try to rename or rebrand itself, perhaps innovate with new drinks, or try to attract new market segments. Or maybe not, and wait for it all to just go away.
For the foreseeable future, the boycott will continue.
Learn More…
Blackblot is the developer of the PMTK? methodology and the premier provider of private training, certification, tools, and expert services for market leaders and innovators worldwide. Blackblot is an IS0 9001:2008 certified business.
Regulatory Consultant
9 个月Thankyou for writing such an honest and compelling article. Hopefully this becomes the wake-up call for companies worldwide on why political statements are the wrong path for advertising opportunities.
Supply Chain Intelligence with a Human Touch
1 年It's such an interesting case study. What core events and flow of decisions caused this to happen? On the surface, it's easy to find clear ideological motivations from Alissa Heinerscheid, the VP of Marketing, that not only ignore, but also deeply patronise BL's core consumers. Her arrogance and righteousness is mind boggling to experience. But the CEI rating index perspective is also interesting - as well the seemingly 'Ivory Tower' management placed in New York potentially being out of touch with their core audience. But all of these perspectives potential influence on a new marketing strategy, would and should have been caught by good, old traditional marketing research and testing? Looking at their newly posted 'grunt' add's it seems they have learned very little. Now, I'm just waiting for the Netflix Documentary ??
Experienced Title Attorney / Landman
1 年Hey, no matter what else is true, Alissa Heinerscheid has conducted the most impactful marketing campaign in recent history. IT may not have been the impact she wanted, but she definitely made a permanent impact.
Experienced Clinical Field Supervisor | Medical Devices, Critical Care,seasoned traveller
1 年From the looks and the sounds of it, the three top people need to take a good long look at their audience! It’s not who they went to school with a Harvard Wharton But yet they make big bucks and made just such a political and marketing blunder not to even mention the nightmare it caused !! Being in healthcare I have never taken a marketing class one nor do I have my masters, but I’m intelligent human being living in the United States and I’m a citizen and therefore I found this to be a very interesting read, especially having growing up in St. Louis, where I thought for the longest time that that was the only beer allowed in the city. I hope they can figure it out which they should have a masters and all !! in my estimation, they are not talking the talk, nor walking walk so maybe someone needs to take a look at that as well !