At the very core, Bud Light did one massive thing wrong and I’m not talking about embracing a social agenda to drive sales.
They committed brand suicide by not evolving as a brand. Instead of evolving and creating a product people want, they tried to create a market that doesn’t exist for its brand instead of following the clear line that existed right in front of them.
If you went to an investor with this approach of “we don’t have a market”, they would send you packing. This is not how you reinvigorate a brand.
Regardless of the social movement it supports, Budweiser as a brand has been dying for years and it’s because they have failed to evolve. They operated more as an M&A abandoning the original brand that made them who they are today.
From being a brand that represented America from Nascar to the epic commercials riddled with humor to being a pariah of beers. What many don’t realize is that Budweiser has been at the center of some political issues stemming back over a year which has sparked some issues leading us to where they stand today.
When a company goes “woke” as its main driving principle, it might as well throw out the book on how to actually run a business. What used to work in the ’80s and ’90s with “bad press” turned into “good press” no longer works today. Unless you’re strategic engineering the entire string of events like a diabolical plan to rob a casino like Oceans 11. It’s highly risky to try to use this as an advantageous move today.
Another reason this doesn’t work is that with consumers processing information so quickly, they only have time to attach to the emotion they feel about your brand from the experience you give them. This will solidify their distaste for your brand, losing customers over an outdated marketing move.
When I speak of this topic, I am purely speaking from a place of brand expertise. I support anyone’s choice to embrace their identity, especially as an identity coach. But our identity and pursuit of authenticity is a personal one. Budweiser like many other brands is using social agendas for their test bed which to me is highly unethical. Personally, I have great friendships in my inner circle that are of the LGBTQ community along with professional partnerships. I will reiterate that my article is purely a brand expert review of how not to build a brand and how to destroy one.
Budlight’s VP has executed some ideals that quite frankly baffle me as a brand and marketing expert. These are high-risk moves that have yet to actually show positive outcomes for any brand that tries this. Looking back at Gillette with its same approach led by an Ultra-Feminist marketing lead, an already hurting brand Gilette lost 37% of it’s market share. Customers ran to dollar shave club and Harry’s razors catapulting them to the top with many customers choosing to never buy Gilette products again.
To attract new customers, you have to give them something they want to buy, not try to be their best friend. As a corporation, you have a business to run and if a social agenda or principle has never been a part of your business framework, leave it out of the business model. Yes, the market is shifting in many areas but we drink what we like and we buy from brands we like, respect, and trust. If this is the philosophy they tried to adopt, Budweiser heavily missed the mark.
How would I have done it?
- Improve the product. Get back to basics and show why people should look at your beer over craft beers.
- Update the look, not the ambassador. Make your everyday heroes, the blue-collar crowd that works their asses off, embracing the American spirit of hard work, liberty, freedom and what Budweiser used to stand for.
- Rebuild the community. Budweiser is the kid who left town and has never come back. We choose our favorite sports teams and adopt many of the same things our parents chose. That’s the demographic, the legacy of everyday Americans.
- Get back to brand basics, not new product lines that have no meaning. College drinkers drink what’s cheap or the hottest thing. Do market research with the 80%, not the 1%.
- Ditch all social agendas and this goes for every business out there. Your brand must embody that belief at its core because if it doesn’t, then your brand will be exposed for what it is, a fraud.
- Stop trying to compete with craft beer houses. I personally have some great friends who own and operate a craft beer company and their beer is amazing along with their food. But the one thing that stands out is the community in it.
- Increase your relationship with your existing partners and build at a corporate level new partnerships reinforcing the bond of what it means to be a good neighbor. If you can’t create a better product, create a bond between people that support the work you align with.
