{"id":2208,"date":"2014-12-09T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2014-12-08T14:04:10","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T19:04:10","slug":"it-will-work-i-am-a-marketing-genius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/?p=2208","title":{"rendered":"It will work. I am a marketing genius…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bud<\/a> The initial success of Corona is attributed to changing from a stubby brown bottle to the clear long neck bottle still in use today.\u00a0 Consumers were attracted to the bottle even though Corona had only one package at the time, a 20 bottle loose case.\u00a0 The\u00a0almost 30 years of\u00a0growth for\u00a0Corona, which is truly remarkable, comes from the consistent message of Beach in a Bottle<\/em> used to market the brand.\u00a0 This holiday season, once again, consumers will see the Corona ad featuring Christmas lights on a palm tree.\u00a0 It is the essence of the brand. Successful beers connect their brand message to their consumers and fans.\u00a0 Schlitz, before their internal blowup, traditionally had one of the great ad campaigns, \u201cWhen you are out of Schlitz, you are out of beer.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>This campaign, and variations of it, was the basis of Schlitz success for decades.\u00a0 In fact, the Schlitz p-o-s supporting these programs, the Schlitz globe, is still highly collectable today.\u00a0 It was not until Schlitz changed their brewing process, which led to their rapid decline in sales, did the brewery change this successful tag line. Schlitz did everything, including changing packages, p-o-s, programs, and finally ad campaigns in an effort to entice their consumers to come back. Schlitz actually alienated consumers with new ads that stated \u201cDon\u2019t take away my Schlitz!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>As wholesalers we tried to get the brewery to drop these programs, but our efforts were ignored by senior management.\u00a0 And the rest is history. Coors, while never having any issues with quality, went through similar problems.\u00a0 The highly successful\u00a0campaign, \u201cAmerica’s Fine Light Beer<\/em>,\u201d was changed due to the success of Coors Light.\u00a0 After years of ineffective marketing, Coors finally turned the clock back and focused on the roots of the brand.\u00a0 They have stuck with the strategy and the numbers have been positive for years. Consumers identify with their beer brand(s) as much as anyone does with a consumer product.\u00a0 It is very easy to alienate a brand\u2019s core market, as was evidenced when Coors Light hired Kid Rock in an effort to connect with 21-29 drinkers. The results were not successful The Wall Street Journal<\/em> recently reported that ABI will no longer use the famous Clydesdales during the Christmas\/New Year\u2019s holiday, and instead focus\u00a0a new campaign geared towards the LDA to 29 year olds.\u00a0 Within 24 hours of announcing the elimination of the Clydesdales, ABI reneged on their decision. ABI stated that about 44% of the LDA to 29 ages has never tried Budweiser.\u00a0 Given that Coors has had years of growth, does one believe that this age group is drinking Coors?\u00a0 Coors reconnected with their core drinkers by returning to their roots and maybe even acquired some consumers that were not core drinkers.\u00a0 Obviously, their strategy has worked. The WSJ<\/em> is one of the most read and accurate papers published.\u00a0 How, or why, the WSJ<\/em> reported this and then ABI announced that the story was not true is puzzling at best.\u00a0 Budweiser is one of the greatest labels of all time and the Clydesdales have symbolized that for decades.\u00a0\u00a0If ABI even\u00a0cuts back showing the Clydesdales then ABI’s\u00a0decision sounds more like Paris Hiltons comment, \u201cIt will work, I am a marketing genius!\u201d<\/p>\n

Beer fodder – old Schlitz commercials;<\/p>\n