Re the Bud Lite situation . . . I must confess that after watching the video of Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing VP who instigated the fiasco, I had to feel a certain sympathy for her (possibly because she seems about the same age as, and sounds like, my daughter who is also a marketing executive for a major corporation). She said that Bud Lite had been "in decline for a very long time." If so, and we have no reason to doubt her, what would you do? For years Bud Lite seems to have tried to position itself as the go-to drink for good ol' boys, working stiffs, sports fans . . . macho men, in other words, and it's steadily losing market share. So how do you find new, and especially younger, customers? Change the formula? Ask Coca Cola about that strategy. Alissa's answer was to hire an outrageous transgender spokescritter to appeal to a hip, younger generation. Change the brand's image in a new, exciting direction! Well, we've seen how that worked out. So, in her shoes, what <i>would</i> you do?
There were many other avenues. Coors Light and Miller Lite cater to the same audience as Bud Light - look at ways to share shift to grow the brand. As far as going after other and younger audiences - that's what Bud Light Lime, Bud Light Orange and Bud Light Seltzers were supposed to do.
The primary rule in life and business is - first try not to be stupid. This was a stupid, unforced error on the part of Budweiser. It was also cowardly as it looks like management was afraid of offending the woke mob by not catering to them. Sorry but hard for me to be sympathetic to Bud at this point.
Re the Bud Lite situation . . . I must confess that after watching the video of Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing VP who instigated the fiasco, I had to feel a certain sympathy for her (possibly because she seems about the same age as, and sounds like, my daughter who is also a marketing executive for a major corporation). She said that Bud Lite had been "in decline for a very long time." If so, and we have no reason to doubt her, what would you do? For years Bud Lite seems to have tried to position itself as the go-to drink for good ol' boys, working stiffs, sports fans . . . macho men, in other words, and it's steadily losing market share. So how do you find new, and especially younger, customers? Change the formula? Ask Coca Cola about that strategy. Alissa's answer was to hire an outrageous transgender spokescritter to appeal to a hip, younger generation. Change the brand's image in a new, exciting direction! Well, we've seen how that worked out. So, in her shoes, what <i>would</i> you do?
There were many other avenues. Coors Light and Miller Lite cater to the same audience as Bud Light - look at ways to share shift to grow the brand. As far as going after other and younger audiences - that's what Bud Light Lime, Bud Light Orange and Bud Light Seltzers were supposed to do.
The primary rule in life and business is - first try not to be stupid. This was a stupid, unforced error on the part of Budweiser. It was also cowardly as it looks like management was afraid of offending the woke mob by not catering to them. Sorry but hard for me to be sympathetic to Bud at this point.