Anheuser-Busch would like me to believe I am reading too much into it, but around the time of the InBev buyout, Budweiser commercials began elevating the patriotism pushing "The Great American Lager" slogan like a comforting pat on the shoulder to say, "Everything will be alright." Maybe its just a coincidence: A-B reminds me the slogan was launched before InBev's bid was finalized. Or maybe marketing knew something I didn't. Either way, hammering home the "King of Beers" at this point might just come a little too close to reminding us of our new European overlords.Unfortunately, however, slogans require an extra step of association, so for their latest offering, Bud is simply throwing the word "American" right into the product name. A-B chose to debut spots for their forthcoming Budweiser American Ale during the Olympics. (I caught one during a massive 8 hour Olympic-watching marathon -- a near Phelpsian feat, if I do say so myself.) And though Olympic coverage represents an ideal opportunity to court a massive audience, it certainly doesn't hurt that it's served with a side of patriotic pride.
Budweiser American Ale also had been in the works well before the InBev buyout: It's intention is to edge in on the growing craft beer market, hopefully grabbing Anheuser-Busch a piece of the action while wooing some attention back to their flagship. Reasserting Budweiser as the "Great American Lager" is definitely a nice segue into introducing the next great "American Ale." But A-B marketing has got to at least be thinking, Don't you love it when a plan comes together! Naive isn't a word that comes to mind when I think of the big boys down at Bud, so I bet the more this whole InBev/patriotism thing feels like a coincidence, the better job they're doing.
[Photo Credit: budweiser.com]
8-18-2008 @4:37PM Shawn Harstad said... Ok What the hell is A-H? Do you mean A-B?
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8-18-2008 @5:44PM Daniel said... I don't understand what the big deal is about. I'm sorry, but a name like Anheuser-Busch never exactly rang patriotism into my heart. That's not exactly an overly american name.
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8-18-2008 @5:46PM Mike Pomranz said... Hey Shawn. Corrections made. My mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
And, yes, Daniel, I agree. They choose a name like Budweiser to sound German and now a century later they want to be all-American. Ah, how times change!
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8-19-2008 @12:11AM Derek Jones said... Sorry to be correcting you again, but Budweiser is Czech. Even the Germans would go for that bier.
As to the Belgians buying A-B I can only imagine the products will improve.... the only A-B product I ever touch is Bud Lite and that's only when there's nothing left.
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8-19-2008 @12:16AM Mike Pomranz said... Hey, Derek, good point re: InBev improving quality over at A-B. I have to agree that InBev's product lines are definitely more impressive overall than A-B's.
However, I must defend myself on your correction. Even though Budweis is currently in the Czech Republic, the term Budweiser is actually derived from German. From Wikipedia: "The name derives from the Bohemian city Budweis (Budweiser meaning 'from Budweis' in the German language), which was part of the German HRE until 1806, then Austrian Empire until 1918, then Czechoslovakia until 1993, then Czech Republic."
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8-19-2008 @1:02PM Barry said... I've never liked Budweiser or any of it's beers (no, I'm sure I haven't tried them all but of the ones I have...).
Marketing campaigns usually take a little longer but AB is such a machine they may very well have done it as a "pre-emptive" strike before the deal was done.
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9-04-2008 @12:11PM Bob Skilnik said... Budweiser American Ale has been in development long before InBev came sniffing at the door. I was at a insider tasting of the beer back in May when they still were fine tuning the product and it had been going through innumerable pilot brews long before I tasted the working model.
The "American" tag merely compliments their promotion of Budweiser being the "Great American Pilsner," a profile having been used for some time now.
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9-04-2008 @12:29PM Bob Skilnik said... Here's a video link of an A-B tasting for their Budweiser American Ale back in May at A-B HQ.
http://beerinfood.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/budweiser-american-ale-tasting/
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9-04-2008 @12:31PM Mike Pomranz said... Thanks for the comments, Bob. However, if you look above I admit that "Budweiser American Ale also had been in the works well before the InBev buyout."
Also, the "Great American Lager" (not Pilsner) slogan hasn't really been used for "some time now." A rep at A-B told me it was introduced a few months ago (most likely as a precursor to the forthcoming American Ale -- also mentioned above).
My main point was that the whole thing probably was just a happy coincidence. Still, the InBev buyout didn't happen overnight. You can find rumors dating back to early 2007. So I'm also willing to consider there may be more to it than the average consumer can see.
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