By Barbara Bacci Mirque
Keith Levy of Anheuser – Busch InBev had the crowd laughing as he debunked the myths perpetuating since the A-B purchase by InBev. He promised that the iconic Clydesdales would not be replaced by lower cost and cheaper to feed mini horses. And the creative focus we have seen from A-B also remains a key priority as brands must help grow the topline and innovation plays a role in that. What has changed he said is more of a movement to manage costs and optimize business efficiency – a change to which we all can relate in the current economy. As they take the best of both companies they are now using zero based budgeting and adding data driven decision making into the mix. So for example, they will begin to do a bit more rigorous pre ad testing as they add precision and create higher persuasion scores from their creative executions since modern consumers require both rational and emotional benefits. The world’s most valuable brands innovate at the core he said, and he pointed to Bud Light Lime as a recent innovation. He also described a core consumer insight that emerged after some ethnographic research and that was the notion of - in consumers’ words - “drinkability.” As they question every touch point he also noted their digital spend is double what it was a few years ago since people don’t wake up and say “Today I am going live in the analog world.” Oh and Michelob is tweeting. These changes seem very progressive and those that will build the business and maintain their carefully cultivated brand equity.
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