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Super Bowl

TAHammerton said:
What is it they hope to achieve buying  up craft breweries?

Market share.

Everything y’all posted here supports their play. I’m no fan of Budweiser, but you have to admit that spending that kind of change for the mother of all ad venues assumes they thought this out… a lot.
No one will know for sure what transpired in the board room. Not sure if “running scared” fits the bill. I’d think of it as mazimizing market share in a shifting environment.
They’ve created a polarity while investing in both sides of the coin, and pissed people off in the process. Brilliant! That’s what sells beer.
 
I don't get it. If they wanted market share why dis craft breweries? Because I am not going to drink Budweiser (because of taste) and now I am certainly not going to drink their craft breweries as I think they are full of sh1t and are not doing anything to help that side of the business. That's not increasing market share its diminishing it!

As has been shown Bud has been in steady decline and craft on the steady increase. To me it seems to get more market share I would embrace the craft movement and promote that you have a beer for everyone. It makes no sense to me to build a wall between Macro and Craft as Bud et al will find themselves on the less populated side of the wall in the long run. It's like if McDonalds started attacking health food stores - why eat healthy? That's just for Hippies, real Americans eat junk food.
 
They’ve created a polarity while investing in both sides of the coin, and pissed people off in the process. Brilliant! That’s what sells beer.

For one, I wont be buying any more or less craft beer because of a commercial.  What it did do is make GD sure I wont have any Bud in my fridge for my non-craft friends. And I don't think this commercial put any more disposable income in the pockets of Bud drinkers looking for the cheapest item in the cooler.  Most of that crowd when you mention craft get this puzzled look right before they lick their tooth and blurt out "oH, you mean em dark beers?  Ive talked to some of them about it and they didn't 'get' the commercial, it was just another Bud advertisement to them.
 
TAHammerton said:
Good luck with your new Brew Pub Brewfun. Maybe I will visit it one day if I ever get off this rock!

Thank you.

What I have never understood is that Budweiser has the ability to make a really good beer. They are not lacking in technical expertise or ability to source really good ingredients. Yet they resist any change, and despite what they say, are anti-craft.

Simply, the macros have an entirely different viewpoint on quality than craft brewers. They focus on consistency and specs, as well as market supply chains are metrics in their assessment of "quality."

What else is true is that the macros are entirely responsible for the high quality of pale and pilsner malts (and therefore all specialty malts), as well as the advancements in production yields, malting consistency and kilning. For the longest time, they funded all new hop development (that ended when InBev took over) and are responsible for the foundation of everything you read about brewing science.

In their world, "quality" is a term that includes consumer purchasing. So, why would they reformulate if their consumer tests point to the fact that consumers prefer sweeter, lighter beer?

Besides, somewhere along the way I gathered the beer trivia factoid that if AB-InBev added just one IBU to it's brands, that it would suck a million pounds of hops from the market. ...The craft market....
 
I've never thought that Budweiser produced bad beer.  Their product is of top quality "for the style".  It's consistent all the way through.  The taste, balance, maltiness (or lack their of), hopiness (or the lack their of) is spot on with each and every can or bottle or draft.

However, it's a product that has found a niche, as it is produced for people that want those attributes in their beer.  I used to drink it by the pitcher full, back before I became educated and learned that not all beer tasted like that.

I truly believe that some people actually love the taste of that style of beer.  I am not one of those people anymore.  My first beer that was different was Killians Red and shortly there after it was a Sam Adams Boston Lager.  I'd never order one of those anymore, but they did open my eyes to a new world of beer flavors.

The mass produced American Pilsners have a few things that they do well.  One, is consistency.  I have not tried to make the style yet, but I'm sure that I will some day!  Another thing that they have going for them, and this is a big one, is marketing!  They are geniuses at marketing!!  Despite their great marketing, craft beer is still catching up.  Craft beer, in my humble opinion, will continue to catch up more and more.  I see very few "under 35 year olds" that prefer Budweiser over a flavorful, well made craft beer. 

Budweiser is smart in their recent acquistions of craft beer breweries, as they don't make craft beer in their mass produced plants.  The only way to get into the market is through acquistions.  I don't see this trend ending.  They will continue to seek out quality craft breweries and microbreweries to add to their portfolio. 

Whether it's good or bad for the general public, or the craft and microbrew industry is still to be seen.  However, I feel that it is a good thing for Budweiser.

(Steps down off my soapbox)
 
<<<I don't get it. If they wanted market share why dis craft breweries? Because I am not going to drink Budweiser (because of taste) and now I am certainly not going to drink their craft breweries as I think they are full of sh1t and are not doing anything to help that side of the business. That's not increasing market share its diminishing it!>>>

Look at the larger picture. I submit the participants here represent a minority of beer drinkers. By gawd we make the stuff. Although (for most of us) it’s a hobby, we take it quite seriously, along with who owns the breweries we may patronize.
Instead, split the ad into reaching two groups – bud drinkers and craft drinkers. It created the perfect dichotomy between the two, separating them poles apart. Bud drinkers identified with the parody on craft brews and their stereotyped drinkers.
Craft drinkers identified that bud is clearly not their beer – a market they would never reach by traditional means anyway. So instead, bud systematically increases their craft brew market share by acquisition.

<<<Most of that crowd when you mention craft get this puzzled look right before they lick their tooth and blurt out "oH, you mean em dark beers?  Ive talked to some of them about it and they didn't 'get' the commercial, it was just another Bud advertisement to them.
>>>
If that’s truly the case, Bud has made an 8 million dollar advertising mistake. We all joke about the unsophisticated hillbilly bud drinker, but they have targeted a class of beer drinker that finds the whole craft beer thing as aroma sniffing, belgian glass swirling, snobbish, affected nonsense. The ad was an emotional statement bud drinkers can identify with. Surely you know they’re out there. Bud can blog all day they are “not anti-craft beer”. I’m sure they’re smiling while they repeat that statement.

<<<As has been shown Bud has been in steady decline and craft on the steady increase. To me it seems to get more market share I would embrace the craft movement and promote that you have a beer for everyone. It makes no sense to me to build a wall between Macro and Craft as Bud et al will find themselves on the less populated side of the wall in the long run. It's like if McDonalds started attacking health food stores - why eat healthy? That's just for Hippies, real Americans eat junk food.
>>>
Your assessment makes sense, but historically, marketing does not agree. The most effective way to increase market share is to create controversy and dissention between two products while having a stake in both. Your McDonalds analogy is timely. Lately, they have been floundering as to their image – who are we and what are we about? Junk food or healthy salads?  Ironically, it just may have been a boon if McDonalds HAD created a similar ad to buds – parodying health food while promoting the good old fashioned highly caloric American hamburger. Who knows?


edited to add:.... still on my soapbox  ;D ;D
 
What I meant to say was that Budweiser has the ability to make a really great "Craft style" beer. They are very, very good at Making Bud in numerous breweries that all taste the same - that is hard. In fact I think it is very difficult to make that style as it has to be perfect as any slight flaw will show up as there is absolutely nothing to hide behind.

This craft brewing trend has been coming for a long time and it should not be a surprise to them that their market share is shrinking. Most businesses adapt as the market changes - why not Bud? It has changed in the past, I can assure you the current beer is nothing like the original.

Yes there is still a big market for Bud, but that market is shrinking every year. Putting down craft breweries is not going to change that.

They could have spent that money promoting all the craft breweries they have acquired. People who drink Bud already know what Bud is. Perhaps they ARE scared to promote their own craft breweries lest die-hard Buddies discover a wider world of beer, one which they seemingly know nothing about.

But what do I know about marketing? I am a product designer by trade and a brewer by passion. I work exclusively on the design and manufacturing side of things - I don'y market or sell anything. Perhaps Baron Von MunchKrausen is right, but it's over my head in that case as it makes no sense to me.
 
Baron Von MunchKrausen said:
They’ve created a polarity while investing in both sides of the coin, and pissed people off in the process.


And more craft brewers and homebrewers have talked about Bud in two days than we have in years.  And I imagine BMC drinkers are out there laughing it up about beer snobs.  Both sides of the coin is right. 
 
Used to be a big Goose Island fan (I live in Chicago) then they went to the dark side and took my favorite brewmaster with them. Now all their stuff tastes pretty similar...they seem to use the same hops and grain bill base for all their brews.
I honestly have gotten away from drinking anything but my own stuff now...I make it how I like it, so why the hell not?
 
BILLY BREW said:
Used to be a big Goose Island fan (I live in Chicago) then they went to the dark side and took my favorite brewmaster with them. Now all their stuff tastes pretty similar...they seem to use the same hops and grain bill base for all their brews.

Really?!?!  Wow, I haven't noticed that.  I definitely love the Goose.
 
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