Dive Brief:
- Anheuser-Busch InBev launched a new Bud Light campaign with an ad featuring Super Bowl commercial stars Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer that expresses support for same-sex marriage, timed to coincide with LGBT Pride Month.
- The company is targeting a diverse group of beer drinkers, including millennials, who are more supportive of LGBT rights. AB InBev hopes to turn around falling sales for the Bud Light brand, sales volumes for which have fallen 12% since 2008, when InBev bought Anheuser-Busch Cos.
- AB InBev could be taking a risk by estranging certain consumers and distributors, the latter of whom are often older, more conservative, and risk-averse for brands, John Greening, a Northwestern University professor who previously worked on Budweiser campaigns, told The Wall Street Journal.
Dive Insight:
Last summer, Chobani chose a similar time frame to launch its own LGBT-friendly campaign, including an ad depicting a same-sex couple waking up and eating Chobani Simply 100. General Mills released a similar commercial with two dads and their adopted daughter for the Cheerios brand in 2014. In October, as part of its campaign featuring "real families," Campbell featured two fathers feeding their child Star Wars-themed Campbell's soup.
Addressing the growing diversity of consumers through marketing and product development is becoming part of a larger industry movement to adapt to a more global world. Manufacturers have made efforts to offer products and marketing messages to meet the more varied consumer expectations.
AB InBev was strategic in choosing Bud Light over Budweiser for this LGBT rights campaign. Bud Light is seen as a beverage choice that appeals to a more diverse demographic of drinkers than Budweiser. Bud Light being the face of AB InBev's LGBT stance is likely to have less resistance than if AB InBev tried this approach with Budweiser.
AB InBev holds 43.6% of U.S. beer market share. And recent moves like a craft beer buying spree (including the latest acquisition announcement in April) and creating a beer industry startup accelerator with TechStars demonstrate AB InBev's commitment to remaining relevant. This LGBT campaign is another extension of that pursuit of relevancy.