Get Your American Ale

Yesterday InBev announced that their takeover of the American brewer Anheuser-Busch was complete.  The  new company would continue to operate as Anhauser-Busch InBev, the largest brewer in the world and one of the five largest consumer product groups in the world.

When it was announced, this takeover was very controversial in the US.  Budweiser, A-B's flagship product, is widely recognised as a real American product, and popular sentiment had it that this pearl to the crown would be lost when the company ended up in foreign hands.  No more "Watching the game, having a Bud".  True.

Popular sentiment is a headstrong horse, and riding it can be very tricky.  A-B decided not to try and change opinions with a large-scale advertising campaign, but chose to confront it head to head.  It launched Budweiser American Ale, a beer that couldn't be more distant from InBev's Stella-Artois lager, and stressed it's American qualities :

"Brewed with caramel-malted barley from America's Heartland for a rich, amber color, and sweet malt character, and dry-hopped with Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest for a noticeable citrus aroma, it's more than a new taste... it's a whole new tradition".

A-B continued to support this by advertising in Americana magazines and media, and by supporting media that also ranked high on the real-American scale, such as WBEZ-Chicago's popular radio show, This American Life, with presenter Ira Glass.   Initial reactions were predominantly positive.

It's a great example of turning the tides, and launching a new product in the process.