Bud Light appeared to have made a severe marketing error when partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The Post Millennial reports that the company that makes Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch) intends to spend heavily on marketing to correct it after they made this marketing error. Executives for the company held a closed-door meeting in which they said they would spend heavily on the brand after spending fell off a cliff last year..
Benj Steinman, the editor of Beer Marketers Insights, spoke with the New York Post and said that the new marketing efforts by the company would begin this week. The brand saw a drop of 17% in sales for the week ending April 15.
Steinman wrote a report for clients that said that Anheuser-Busch did promise to spend lotsa dough on Bud Light [marketing] this spring and summer, starting with a big push this week for the NFL draft.
A distributor for the brand spoke with the Post as well and said, there will be an improved screening process before any marketing hits the public, and executives will have to go through a more rigorous screening process.
Steinman said the meeting wasnt that productive and the distributors were hoping for more concrete plans related to the backlash against Bud Light. He stated that they wanted to put this entire controversy behind them.
Many of the 400 distributors invited to the meeting to speak about the issues related to this marketing flub were upset because the company had not offered any apology.
Steinman mentioned: Wholesalers have long felt that Anheuser-Busch was too focused on innovation and not enough on their bread-and-butter brands.
The Post Millennial reports that Anheuser-Busch sent a letter to wholesalers and other business partners on Tuesday, offering various talking points about the situation. They seemed to want to comfort their partners, but they didnt go as far as apologizing for the efforts that they had made. Instead, they offered ways that the distributors, wholesalers, and others could do some damage control.
Part of the letter read: This was one single can given to one social media influencer. This can was not made for production or sale to the general public, nor was it a formal campaign or advertisement.
It then added: Our new Vice President of Bud Light [Todd Allen] and all of us at Anheuser-Busch are committed to reminding all of our consumers why they love Bud Light and why theyve made it the #1 beer in America.
Bud Light is the highest-selling beer in the U.S. market, but it has been slipping in its market share in recent years. This latest move indeed wont help.
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