Bud Light Finds Cause Marketing To Sports Fans A HighRisk Gamble
Brands are under increasing pressure to take a public stance on social issues. It becomes a very dangerous game, especially for brands that use sports as the main way to reach their customers, who tend to be sports fans and reach a wide range of people. Adults see that younger audiences demand that the brands they support respect the interests they value.
Another school of thought is that advertising and promotion of controversial issues should be limited to brands that want to appeal to a specific audience, knowing full well that they may alienate those who oppose their views. However, with publicly traded brands, especially in sports, things get complicated, and most people feel they want to use sports as a way to avoid political messages. We've seen the NFL and the National Basketball Association walk that fine line in the recent past.
Anheuser-Busch (AB) has long been the largest advertiser of sports content to sports fans around the world. AB is shocked by the recent controversy surrounding Bud Light's decision to put Dylan Mulvaney's face on a Bud Light can. Mulvaney, who is a transgender activist, posted the novel on Instagram on April 1, sparking public backlash and heated debate. The incident offended many Bud Light consumers and sparked a backlash.
According to Bump Williams Consulting, cited in Beer Marketer's Insights, Bud Light sales fell 21% in the week to April 15, with Bud Light's decline almost entirely offset by rival Coors Light. (up 10.6%) and Miller Lite (10.6). % growth).10.6). . %). up to 11.5% for the period. Coors Lite and Miller Lite sales rose 17.6% in dollar terms for the week, while Bud Light sales fell 17%, according to Beer Marketer's Insights.
The chiffres font suite à une baisse de 11% des Ventes de Bud Light pour la semaine se terminant de April 8, premiere Semaine de protests contre la post Instagram d'une militante transgenre, qui presentait la brand sur une canette Bud Light specially designed for Him. This represents hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
Alyssa Heinscheid, Bud Light's vice president of marketing and then CEO, called Bud Light's previous marketing efforts "fraternal" and "disconnected" and suggested the brand should be more inclusive. It seems that he went on vacation of his own accord. However, a Wall Street Journal report said Heinrescheid's departure was voluntary and criticized Bud Light's handling of the situation, suggesting Bud Light should have been more supportive.
The question is, can the iPod Lite, which has been in the doldrums for a while, recover from this unexpected big drop? The short answer is yes, and most experts agree that the backlash will continue. Bud Light Mulvaney was not used as a social media endorsement or advertisement.
The bigger problem is that Bud Light sales are generally down, and while consumers will forget about it for the foreseeable future, it's clear they need to refocus on the first marketing commandment: "Know the Consumer." Once this crisis is over, AB will need to consider changing direction to future-proof the business.
Bud Light has historically been marketed to American sports fans. Prior to the InBev acquisition, Tony Ponturo led AB Sports Sponsorship and Media Group, which dominated the sports sponsorship industry, creating strong partnerships with nearly every sport, from NFL sponsorships to exclusive Super Bowl advertising. Pontoro and his team were leaders who understood and loved the sport they supported.
AB graduates base their decisions on active conversations with real consumers at the point of consumption to better understand what they value. They've been out on the field mingling with their constituents, from athletes to teams to cheerleaders and distributors. This type of intelligence is called anthropological marketing when looking at the customer journey because it is an integral part of culture. AB's rule was that no one was to leave the bar while your boss was around, which led to many late nights. But this bar had your core customers and you can learn a lot by talking to them.
When I was commissioner of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Bud Light was the exclusive beer sponsor. We had meetings with AB management in top bars surrounded by distributors and consumers. We talked to beach volleyball fans (Bud Light customers) during our roundup about what they value most about supporting Bud Light. Athletes have been at the heart of everything Bud Light has done because that's what consumers value at the heart of fan culture. Also, if you've worked at Ponturo and been assigned to a sport, you're usually a fan and immersed in the culture of the sport you're leading. And while people might call his style "bro," lesbian Cathy Cason was one of Pontoro's most influential colleagues. Everyone loved and respected him.
When InBev took over, they fired Ponturo and most of his team and implemented a completely revamped marketing approach. Several fundamental changes have been made in the corporate culture. Data & Cost Reduction and InBev have largely hired many executives who have been educated in business schools but have not had a strong connection to the sport they serve. Don't get me wrong, they were intelligent, cultured, charismatic people. However, they seem to rely more on data and social media to make decisions rather than engaging with key customers.
AB's recent slip-up is simply a symptom of an approach that puts data ahead of meaningful consumer feedback and enables framing that has nothing to do with core consumer DNA. This leads to the fatal fallacy of marketing decisions based only on data or social media, where special interest groups often have an exponentially larger share of voice, drowning out the silent majority who are often too afraid to voice their fear of being part of it. He. He. . "Leave the culture" movement.
Of course, there are compelling reasons to reach a consensus. No one can argue about the importance of 'equality', 'sustainability' or campaigning for compassion for others regardless of race, gender or creed. These are the core values universally accepted in our country, and we all agree that they should be respected and encouraged. Dove's "True Beauty," Ben & Jerry's "The Right to Vote," and Nike's "Mathematics Empowerment" are just a few examples.
Then we move on to questions about causes, on which we do not all agree, and which are often hotly debated. The nuances here are crucial to a successful campaign, and it's important to understand what will resonate with your core customer. One such controversial cause is transgender rights, which are currently the subject of much debate, whether it's the right to compete in athletics or comedian Dave Chappelle's jokes about the need to "ban" the transgender community. He found it very offensive. I find it hard to believe that today's sports-loving Bud Lite consumer would want to address an issue as controversial as transgender rights. They consider beer a familiar friend and companion when cheering on their favorite team.
To truly recover, AB must "go back to the future." Connect more with your customers and understand how you can incorporate cause marketing into a more popular way of focusing on and aligning with your customers' core values. And make sure that the decision makers are really part of the sports culture. This knowledge will help you make very informed marketing decisions about when and how to incorporate social causes into your marketing, especially when your target audience is sports fans.
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