THINK ABOUT IT: Bud Light Controversy – Did AB Do the Right Thing in the Right Way?

In response to the Bud Light controversy of selecting Dylan Mulvaney as a brand ambassador, the Vice President of Marketing for AB stated, “I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was, ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light.’” She added that she wanted to update the company’s “fratty” image.

OK, got it: The brand is in decline, and we need to turn it around. But early indications are that this partnership has turned the brand further south, at rather alarming rates, during the early go. Moreover, it’s hurting Bud Light’s and AB’s image. I imagine that it has also undermined the confidence of the company’s many distributors in its marketing management.

So, it appears the company didn’t do the right thing for Bud Light or, if you feel charitable, it didn’t do it in the right way. It was tactic without regard to the company’s heritage or brand’s positioning, and empathy with its heavy consumers.

How did this critical marketing error happen? I’ve written about the learning from this blunder so that we might avoid it, in a recent issue of DISPATCHES. You can find it here:????

However, I want to address process. To borrow from James Clear, author of ATOMIC HABITS, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” In this case, I’d substitute “process,” for systems.

Assuming the problem is accurately defined—which is a BIG assumption—the marketing team needs to generate not one but many potential initiatives. Among these potential solutions was targeting the LGBTQIA+ community, using Ms. Mulvaney, a transwoman and influencer, as a brand ambassador.?

Corporate managers believe they choose the right solution to every problem. What is the right solution? Unfortunately, my observation is that their practice is “to select the first executionally expedient initiative that has consensus.” The so-called “right solution or thing” is typically not the right solution for the marketplace. It certainly wasn’t in this case.

Another flaw in the process is not contingency planning. We can’t assume something is going to work the way we hope. Hope is neither a strategy nor a plan. Challenging questions must be posed and addressed, particularly in a nation divided along cultural lines.?

I can’t imagine the brand team undertook contingency planning this during the development of the Mulvaney-Bud Light partnership. If anyone thought any challenging questions regarding the response of consumers, distributors, competitors, haters, etc., they probably lacked the courage to voice them and remained silent. After all, it was the right thing or solution.

Finally, the proposed solution needs to be researched. I don’t believe it needs to be a huge quant study. The marketing team should have run it by their leading distributors, conducted focus groups among heavy Bud Light users and, yes, among members of the LGBTQIA+ community. This practice could have alerted them to the avalanche ahead.

So, no, I don’t believe that AB and the Bud Light marketing team had the proper process to enable them to do the right thing in the right way to increase their sales and market share. If they had, they would have:

1. Accurately defined the problem.?
2. Generated many potential solutions.
3. Checked that the solutions fit with the brand’s heritage and positioning strategy.
4. Undertaken contingency planning.
5. Researched or tested to ensure the initiative would generate the target outcomes.

THINK ABOUT IT

Do you have a sound process in place to avoid critical marketing errors? Does your brand’s process lead you to achieve marketing excellence?

If not, what are you waiting for? Get on it!

If you found this article helpful, please follow me on LinkedIn?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/richarddczerniawski/ , where I share my perspectives from 50 years of successful worldwide “brand” marketing experience across many business sectors.

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Do you know which mistakes of commission and omission could be undermining your brand’s business performance?Read my most recent book,?AVOIDING CRITICAL MARKETING ERRORS:?How to Go from Dumb to Smart Marketing. It will identify those critical errors and, importantly, point the way to marketing excellence. Learn more here:?https://bdn-intl.com/avoiding-critical-marketing-errors .

Peace and best wishes,

Richard D. Czerniawski