Good piece in the New York Times Friday morning examining one of the premises for InBev's pursuit of Anheuser-Busch Cos. A key part of InBev CEO Carlos Brito's
proposal involves moving Bud through InBev's global channels and keeping St. Louis as "the global home of the flagship Budweiser brand."
The question advertising writer Carter Dougherty raises is:
How well will Bud travel?As they've
rolled up the world's beer brands, the game for the global beer giants has been twofold: bring economies of scale to the local brands they continue to pump out (InBev has around 200 around the world) while using the same channels to sell a handful of premium global brands.
Bud is already international and getting more so, via efforts such as A-B's sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics. But it's not clear that many parts of the world (especially Europe) will ever really welcome a light lager like Bud in the volumes Brito envisions, no matter how much marketing muscle is put behind it.
In this regard the challenge faced by InBev (or A-B, if it stays independent and pursues its more incremental approach) is much like the one that other globalizing consumer products companies face. As J. Neely, a consumer and media strategist for Booz & Co. points out, it's highly attractive to buy a distribution channel rather than trying to build one in a competitive market. But the product may still need to be adjusted to suit local preferences -- for example, by selling shampoo in sample sizes in emerging markets.
"Just because you can put Listerine on the shelves in Japan doesn't mean you can sell it," says Neely. -
Kenneth Klee
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
