Anheuser-Busch heir offers to buy Bud Light back
Billy Busch, the heir to the Anheuser-Busch dynasty, explains how acquiring Bud Light can bring ‘value’ back to the American-made beer.
Some of the Americans who were boycotting Bud Light in recent months may finally be returning to the embattled brand, according to a recent survey.
Bud Light drinkers who say they are "very unlikely" to buy the beer in the next three to six months fell from 18% to just 3% in July, according to a Deutsche Bank survey.
Deutsche Bank analysts called it a "significant improvement" for the embattled beer maker. The bank’s survey also noted that 19% of beer drinkers now say they are no longer willing to purchase Bud Light, after a slightly larger 21% made that claim last month.
"Our data also suggests that Corona and Heineken remain the main beneficiaries of Bud Light's losses, however, the gains are lower vs July," analyst Mitch Collett wrote.
"Disaggregating our data by age and income level shows that the most material improvement in consumption was for 55+ year olds and consumers earning less than $25k per year. Both groups still have a higher proportion of consumers who are no longer buying the brand than other age groups / income groups," he continued. "We continue to see [Anheuser-Busch InBev] as well positioned for the long term helped by a transition to being a more digitally enabled brewer. Reiterate Buy."
BUD LIGHT DECLINE 'COULD LAST FOR A WHILE,' CUSTOMERS NOT 'COMING BACK,' EXECS WARN
IOther beers, including Modelo Especial, Coors Light and Miller Lite, have rapidly consumed Bud Lights market presence since significant backlash began in April. ((Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))
Bud Light sales have plummeted since transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney publicized that the beer company sent a can featuring Mulvaney's face to celebrate a full year of "girlhood" last spring.
Mulvaney said the cans were her "most prized possession" on Instagram with a post that featured "#budlightpartner." Another video featured Mulvaney in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light, and many would-be consumers quickly denounced the product.
As conservatives were angered, an interview with then-marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid surfaced in which she criticized the brand's consumers as "fratty" with "out of touch humor." The fiasco has affected everyone from Bud Light executives to local beer distributors, even leading indirectly to some company layoffs.
"In my 30 years of doing this, I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen such a shift in market share this quickly, and I've never seen it so prolonged. And I think it's kind of a wake-up call for marketers in all CPG [consumer packaged goods] that wading into the culture wars can have pretty serious consequences," Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher recently told Fox News Digital.
HEINEKEN CEO SAYS COMPANIES NEED 'TO BE BALANCED' IN WAKE OF BUD LIGHT CONTROVERSY
A picture of the commemorative Bud Light can featuring TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)
"It's probably best just to stay clear, unless you're a brand that trades on that kind of controversy," Schuhmacher continued. "Bud Light clearly does not. When you're drinking beer, politics, religion, those sorts of things should be out the door. And they broke the first cardinal rule of beer brand marketing."
Singer Kid Rock used several Bud Light cans as target practice in April, just days after Mulvaney’s video promoting the beer brand went viral online. "F--- Bud Light and f--- Anheuser-Busch! Have a terrific day," the singer said to the camera after he shot and destroyed beer cans with a burst of gunfire.
Last month, Anheuser-Busch announced it would lay off hundreds of employees, with roughly 380 U.S.-based employees being shown the door. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson revealed the layoffs would "simplify and reduce layers with its organization" and will not affect "brewery and warehouse staff, drivers and field sales, among others."
Anheuser-Busch InBev announced earlier this month that its U.S. revenue dropped 10.5% in the second quarter, while its earnings before taxes, interest and depreciation fell 28.2%. The second quarter covered April through the end of June and offers the first look at the damage caused by the Bud Light boycott, which began in April.
Anheuser-Busch accompanied the grim numbers with a survey of some 170,000 consumers across the U.S., saying it found a majority remain favorable toward the Bud Light brand, while 80% are favorable or neutral.
"Regardless of favorability, our consumers across all sentiment groups have three points of feedback in common," Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said on an earnings call. "One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as NFL, (veteran charity) Folds of Honor and music."
Despite the drop in Bud Light sales, Anheuser-Busch reported an 18.4% increase in combined revenues of its global brands, including Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona.
Fox News' Jeffrey Clark, Anders Hagstrom and Joe Toppe contributed to this report.
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