Anheuser-Busch: Keeping Success Flowing - Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. marketing strategy - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek,  April 2, 2001  by Jean Bergantini Grillo

Tags: Anheuser-Busch, marketing, marketing strategy

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Anheuser-Busch expands the range of its demographic targets-and diversifies its cable buy

The first commercial ever run on ESPN was a pitch for Budweiser. Even in 1979, the King of Beers knew that while broadcast ads might reach the masses, cable advertising targeted the very specific in this case, male sports fanatics. In fact, early ESPN fans might have thought they were watching the Bud Network because its logo appeared so frequently.

Today, as the dominant domestic beer in the U.S., with a market share of 48 percent and climbing, Anheuser-Busch executives bask in the wisdom of that risk-taking first cable buy. The company is pouring more and more money into specific niche network programs to push brews such as Bud Light, Michelob and O'Doul's.

Five years ago Anheuser-Busch spent only $4.7 million on network cable to pitch Bud Light, according to Competitive Media Reporting. Last year, that number more than doubled to nearly $10 million.

A-B has also expanded into entertainment and financial programming, including sponsorships on signature shows on E! Entertainment Television and CNBC, among others.

"One of the ways we measure success is to develop entertainment promotions we can bring to retail that are fun, co-ed and tie our brand into television programming," says Peter McLoughlin, vice president of corporate media at Anheuser-Busch. "Network cable does that for us."

Current Anheuser-Busch buys include ESPN, with hefty schedules on NCAA college basketball, National Hockey League games, Major League Baseball and SportsCenter. Along with these are spots in National Basketball Association games on TNT, selected spots on BET, and two new major promotions on E!'s Wild On and CNBC's 11 a.m.-6 p.m. business block. In the past, A-B dollars were highly targeted and very carefully placed with one aim in mind: reaching Bud's primary target audience of males 21-34 and 21-49. Beyond ESPN and TNT, however, A-B is adding more niche networks as it seeks to reach women, adults 50-plus, African Americans and Latinos.

"Cable does an excellent job in delivering male audiences," McLoughlin notes. "But we use cable in a different way than just buying spots. We take a sponsorship/ownership position involving developing programs that promote our brand and promote the individual cable networks."

Spending big bucks on a big all-sports network is a no brainer. But A-B expanded its buys into E! and CNBC because it wanted to reach entertainment TV viewers as well as upper-income viewers in white-collar jobs. Upscale adults aged 50 and older, for example, are more likely to embrace A-B brands such as the nonalcoholic O'Doul's and Michelob.

In May, Budweiser will be the only beer sponsor doing promotions on Wild On, a late-night party-and event-driven show hosted by Brooke Burke. Wild On games will be available at Bud retail outlets, including bars and cafes, with winners vying to attend the "Ultimate Wild On" parties in the Hamptons, South Beach and Las Vegas.

"The benefit for Bud is we reach our targeted co-ed audience, we associate our brand with a known host, and our wholesalers can take this promotion to their retail accounts," McLoughlin explains.

On an even more ambitious note, A-B also created an agreement with CNBC last year to become one of four exclusive advertisers allowed to run special logo spots adjacent to CNBC's real-time ticker scrawl. A constant on-air presence during the 11 a.m.--6 p.m. business block, these A-B spots include commercials for Michelob Light and O'Doul's.

"We had several objectives," McLoughin says, chief among them reaching the financial community.

"Americans, and men in particular, are clearly fascinated with the stock market. We wanted to reach an adult demo 25-54 that is more upscale, more white-collar."

Of equal import, however, McLoughlin adds that A-B also wanted an Internet component, which it enjoys with CNBC.com and E! online. "The CNBC agreement is very interesting," McLoughlin says, "because during the CNBC Power Lunch program with Bill Griffith, our logo is actually on the computer screen he uses when he goes online. Viewers who go to the CNBC Web site also see that it's sponsored by O'Doul's."

According to McLoughlin, while ESPN remains A-B's anchor buy on cable, early returns on the E! and CNBC promotions are positive.

"Our specific goal to develop an entertainment promotion that was fun, co-ed and clearly tied to a TV program has happened with E!,"McLoughlin says. "With CNBC, we've been able to reach a much broader adult demo interested in the financial markets."

Both campaigns are seven-figure exercises for A-B. For Mcloughlin, A-B's expanding cable palette is a sign that the king of brews is stepping up to target an ever-widening audience.

CNBC is currently in 75 million households in the U.S. and in more than 158 million worldwide in 101 countries. E! Entertainment Television estimates its subscriber count will hit 70 million by year-end.

"Bud came to us looking to target entertainment enthusiasts, specifically through our late-night hit, Wild On," says Neil Baker, E! senior vice president of ad sales. "They wanted to reach a young, upscale, 2149 adult audience and wanted to center an integrated platform campaign. We are set up to do integrated marketing across our two networks (E! and Style) and E! Online on a turnkey basis with a single goal: to help advertisers like Budweiser to sell product."