Bud Light In Crisis – The backlash against Mulvaney was far greater than what Anheuser-Busch (parent company of Budweiser) expected. On the first of April 2023 Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender, biological male (claiming to identify as a woman / girl) advertised for Bud Light. He released a video promoting the product and announced the partnership with Budweiser who sent him beer cans with his face on it.
Fixing the Problem
A day ago, information was released in the media, from an anonymous source stating the following: Budweiser did not know about this campaign. This was done behind the back of the leadership by lower-level people in marketing. No one at the senior level in marketing knew about Budweiser polarizing partnership with Dylan Mulvaney. The company is looking to investigate it and to pause those marketing efforts. The company will try to implement more robust process for validating future influencers’ partnerships.
The VP of Marketing
But we don’t truly buy the fact that no one from the senior level knew about this campaign. The VP of marketing of Bud Light, Alissa Heinerscheid, appeared on a YouTube podcast video (called Make Yourself At Home) defending her woke marketing strategy.
She explained the marketing shift she is engineering in the company, being more inclusive. She stated that she is planning to attract young drinkers by evolving and elevating the brand and this means, according to her, inclusivity and shifting the brand tone. She said Bud Light had been a fratty (frat boys’ image) out of touch humor brand.
Heinerscheid implied that customers are concerned about the toxic masculinity and insufficient focus on diversity. That’s why sales are declining over the years. But according to marketing specialists, she misdiagnosed the problem. Yes, it’s true that Bud Light is losing market share. But the real reason, the product itself is bad. Add to this the emerging of draft beer marketing and IPAs.
Where Did Bud Light Go Wrong
Over the years, Budweiser neglected the P (Product) which is one of the most important elements of the marketing-mix or 4 Ps. There is an ample room to enhance and change or adjust the taste. But no efforts had been taken in this direction. Did Bud listen to their customers?
Which leads to another important question, do Budweiser know their real audience? Who drinks Bud Lights. It is obvious during the Bud Light crisis; the company did not identify its audience properly. An avalanche of boycott started. Check those videos to see how the audience responded to Mulvaney’s campaign:
And the below video shows Kidrock shooting Bud Light cans:
Anheuser-Busch, the multinational beverage and brewing company, has experienced a 4.7% decrease in value, according to the Dow Jones Market Data Group. As a result, the company’s market capitalization has fallen from USD $132.38 billion to USD $127.13 which is around 5 billions USD.
Read Also: McDonald’s Raise Your Eyebrows Campaign
