Millennials, Budweiser, and the craft beer problem
Bud Crowded Out by Craft Beer Craze - Faded Beer Brand Unhitches Clydesdales in Favor of Fresher Pitches to Young People
Excerpt:
The wall behind the bar at Jake’s Billiards has 69 taps offering beer choices that range from California’s Lagunitas Fusion 22 to Natty Greene ’s Buckshot, which is brewed across town. The last tap in the long row belongs to Budweiser, and it is about to be removed. ... The self-proclaimed King of Beers is more of an afterthought among young consumers at Jake’s and bars across the U.S.: Some 44% of 21- to 27-year-old drinkers today have never tried Budweiser, according to the brand’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. Young drinkers aren’t the reason Budweiser volumes have declined in the U.S. for 25 years, from its nearly 50-million-barrel peak in 1988 to 16 million barrels last year. Light beers like its sister, Bud Light, have chipped away at Bud’s share of the market for decades. Bud Light overtook it as the No. 1 selling beer in 2001, and Coors Light displaced it as No. 2 in 2011. Craft beers and flavored malts like AB InBev’s Lime-a-Rita have contributed to a 9% decline in shipments since then.Comment: Image source. I find the tastes of Millennials interesting. Out: Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, Bud, etc cetera. In: Panera, Chipoltes, Stella Artois, et cetera.
Emailed to me Budweiser: King of Beers
ReplyDeleteThe change in tastes is a good thing, because the business model of Bugweiser, Chez Mac, Burger King, et al is to "optimize for drinkability." In other words, get as much into the customer as possible and rock that commodity profit margin to Wall Street while the customer gets heart disease and diabetes.
ReplyDeleteThe new tastes aren't perfect, but I find that going to Panera, Chipotle, and drinking real beverages with real flavor (alcoholic or non) results in far fewer calories and much less confrontation with my doctor.
But I don't get the "light" beer phenomenon. Exactly why anyone would go for something even more tasteless than Bugweiser is beyond me. Why not just put a little bit of vodka in your seltzer water and call it good?