Once again, Budweiser has taken the Super Bowl stage to bash craft beer…..
I understand that people loathe the righteous anger spilled over a stupid beer ad. I do. But if I have to scroll past post after post of David Bowie remembrances on Facebook and Donald Trump rants on Twitter because, that’s your jam, well, now you are paying the price for interwebs freedom of speech.
I also understand that this ad was the craft beer fans potty break time. The “Not” ad, as I call it, wasn’t for us. Bud knows craft beer people ain’t coming back. They have lost us. Who they are trying to keep and who are they trying to gain is what’s important and again where I think they have failed.
The ad is aggressive support for their consumer base. From the thumping bass music to the simple ideas, it is like the friend who has your back and is willing to fight for you. But that friend is wicked confused. I could go slide by slide and pick apart what works, “Not” Sippy and what doesn’t “Not” Small but I am more concerned about the internal marketing communication at SABInBevMiller.
Last year they basically pissed over their purchase of Elysian and their pumpkin peach beer and in 2016, they have doubled down on that tactic. The weird anti-fruit cup slide in the ad is in direct contrast to their Shock Top ad in the same Super Bowl. And they have added a swipe at imported beer which is odd for a Brazilian/Belgian company that does import a tiny bit of beer.
Why air an ad that fights your other brands?
A) It gives fodder to the group that hates you because you are giving them ammunition to hurt you with.
B) It confuses your customers that like both Bud and Shock Top (whether they know they are one in the same company)
C) it demoralizes the employees of Shock Top and the Imports (which would be a great band name) because they are now deemed as “Not” Bud.
Maybe the company is just too big to talk amongst themselves though I believe that the marketing and advertising side must be fenced off from the production side on purpose and that lack of communication leads, inevitably, to mixed messages. At the very least, Bud Light, Bud Regular and Shock Top should stay out of each other’s way. In a perfect world all three would work in concert to promote all of Budweiser.
This is all armchair quarterbacking but Budweiser needs to keep their advertising and marketing simple. Especially in a venue like the Super Bowl. Attack ads aren’t in the spirit of the context. People want funny, they want celebrities and/or they want poignant.
Here is a great example from a brand (Star Wars/Duracell) that took the love of the old movies, the hatred of the stupid prequels and the anticipation of the new Force Awakens and made a fun ad filled with childhood wonder….
Or you could really make an impact like Honda did by teaming up with Uber to provide free rides home. That is how you do it Budweiser. Oh and stay away from monkey-dog-baby hybrids. That shit scared me.