Bud Light VP - How to graduate from ivy league yet fail in real life

IceJad · Apr 13, 2023

Bud Light VP said she wanted to update the 'fratty' branding

Alissa Heinerscheid spoke on a business podcast on March 30 to claim that the Anheuser-Busch beer had been 'in a decline for a really long time.'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Bud Light exec is seen in pics downing beers at wild Harvard party

Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing for Budweiser, is seen in a series of leaked photos from 2005 at a Harvard social club event blowing up condoms and chugging bottles of lager.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Sometimes I wonder if the much adored ivy leaguers are even worth the price companies pay for them. Latest example VP of marketing for Bud Light, Alissa Heinerscheid. In her infinite wisdom, she goes on the record to degrade the core consumer base of her brand with monikers such as "fratty" and "out of touch". The same attitudes she so unabatedly partake in during her younger days. It doesn't take a degree in social studies to know the outcome.

I personally don't work in any marketing capacity. I don't claim to be able to lead a company's marketing department. But at least I know from common sense alone that there are certain key principles you don't do in marketing. And on top of that list of principles is DO NOT INSULT YOUR CUSTOMER. Marketing is to grow the market share of the brand. The wider the demographic the more likely you're to get higher sales. Demographics changes over time. If you find your brand is going on a downturn, it is time to grow the demographics. That however doesn't mean throw away your old base in hope a new one will immediately replace them.

Also don't divide your own market by siding with any social cause. Like Michael Jordan once said "Republicans buy shoes too". Then again "modern progressive" ivy leaguers have less common sense than a celery stick. So much book smart yet so little wisdom. So let me leave a little nugget of sage saying I learnt when I was still a little schoolboy:

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Results are predictable. Good job Bud! You really show how them business is done.

Bud Light parent company InBev lost more than $6BILLION in market cap

Unveiled on April 2, the brand's alliance with 26-year-old Dylan Mulvaney has since incited outrage and calls for a boycott - and now appears to be hitting the beer giant in the wallet.

www.dailymail.co.uk

FireDragon76 · Apr 13, 2023

I disagree. "The customer is always right" is old business thinking, and modern business theories are more sophisticated, recognizing that some customers are more trouble than they are worth. It's possible that pursuing certain customers could detract from growing your business overall.

essentialsaltes · Apr 13, 2023

IceJad said:
Sometimes I wonder if the much adored ivy leaguers are even worth the price companies pay for them.

I'm with you on this, anyway.

ThatRobGuy · Apr 13, 2023

I have to question her strategy here. All the Dylan Mulvaney stuff aside... trying to remove the "fratty" aspect of cheap domestic beer is a long shot.

Do people at frat parties like to drink? Yes
Do they look to be able to get the largest quantity of beer for their party at the lowest possible price? Yes

IE: Bud Light is a "fratty" beer (along with Miller Light, Busch Light, Natty, Keystone, etc...)

Trying to rebrand it (through any means) into some more "culturally refined beverage brand, embraced at progressive high-society social events" is a silly endeavor. Those types of social gatherings already have a beverage, it's called wine.

It'd be like a new VP taking over the marketing at a company that makes cheap gas station cigars, trying to remove the "this is just for people who want to hollow it out to roll a blunt with it"-vibe, and trying to make it more appealing to the "Cigar Aficionado" crowd, it's a strategy that destined to flop.

Tropical Wilds · Apr 14, 2023

The stock is higher now than it has been in years, so clearly the strategy is working.

rambot · Apr 14, 2023

Tropical Wilds said:
The stock is higher now than it has been in years, so clearly the strategy is working.

Sales are high because people have been buying and destroying it in hilariously large quantities

The IbanezerScrooge · Apr 14, 2023

rambot said:
Sales are high because people have been buying and destroying it in hilariously large quantities

The overall strategy seems to be working too because there are 4 threads about Bud Light on CF and they all occurred this week.

Again, there has never been a thread on CF about Bud Light until this week.

ThatRobGuy · Apr 14, 2023

The IbanezerScrooge said:
The overall strategy seems to be working too because there are 4 threads about Bud Light on CF and they all occurred this week.

Again, there has never been a thread on CF about Bud Light until this week.

But is anyone who's talking about it actually drinking it??? lol

It would seem as if a better marketing plan for Bud Light would've been "make it taste better".

I personally don't care what they put on the can or which groups they pander to.

I go to craft breweries where the owner clearly has a right-bias, and I go to ones where they clearly have a left-bias.

My stance on good beer somewhat matches Ron Swanson's stance on Bacon-wrapped shrimp (for those who get that reference)

Benam · Apr 14, 2023

I can't believe anyone drinks Bud Light in the first place, regardless of political alignment or their stance on this Dylan person. If you like the flavor of watered down cat pee there are probably cheaper ways to do it.

Tropical Wilds · Apr 15, 2023

rambot said:
Sales are high because people have been buying and destroying it in hilariously large quantities

Their stocks are high, but if sales are high too because people are buying it to destroy it, then AB is still laughing all the way to the bank. After they have your money, they don’t care what you do with their product.

Tropical Wilds · Apr 15, 2023

ThatRobGuy said:
But is anyone who's talking about it actually drinking it??? lol

It would seem as if a better marketing plan for Bud Light would've been "make it taste better".

I personally don't care what they put on the can or which groups they pander to.

I go to craft breweries where the owner clearly has a right-bias, and I go to ones where they clearly have a left-bias.

My stance on good beer somewhat matches Ron Swanson's stance on Bacon-wrapped shrimp (for those who get that reference)

I’d go to a banquet in honor of those Somali pirates if they had bacon wrapped shrimp.

Trogdor the Burninator · Apr 16, 2023

Tropical Wilds said:
I’d go to a banquet in honor of those Somali pirates I’d they had bacon wrapped shrimp.

Not sure how far this is from you, but Yarrr

Trogdor the Burninator · Apr 16, 2023

I don't think the issue is so much trying to change their brand base - plenty of brands try to do that - as with engaging social media influencer/s (groan) who have zero to do with any part of their customer base in order to market the product.

Maybe the marketing team need to spend some time on a retreat with these guys:-

Aussie Pete · Apr 21, 2023

FireDragon76 said:
I disagree. "The customer is always right" is old business thinking, and modern business theories are more sophisticated, recognizing that some customers are more trouble than they are worth. It's possible that pursuing certain customers could detract from growing your business overall.

Sure, Hilary Clinton could teach us all a lesson or two. Like calling voters deplorables. All businesses should go out of their way to denigrate and insult their traditional customer base. After all, the new generation of unemployables will soon hit the streets. They won't have any money, but they will be socially aware, politically correct and ready to live off the taxes of the few people left working.

No, the customer is not always right. But the impossible to please are pretty rare compared to those who have made billionaires out of the likes of Bezos, Gates, Ellison and co. In my sales career, I learned to treat every potential customer as if they were equally important. One of my best started out with a small project that took a lot of my time to design and quote.

FireDragon76 · Apr 21, 2023

Aussie Pete said:
Sure, Hilary Clinton could teach us all a lesson or two. Like calling voters deplorables. All businesses should go out of their way to denigrate and insult their traditional customer base

Nobody is going out of their way to insult anyone. Not catering to a particular group is not the same as insulting them.

rambot · Apr 21, 2023

FireDragon76 said:
I disagree. "The customer is always right" is old business thinking, and modern business theories are more sophisticated, recognizing that some customers are more trouble than they are worth. It's possible that pursuing certain customers could detract from growing your business overall.

100%.

The customer stopped "being always right" as the customers became more abusive, more dumb, more rude and more violent.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN · Apr 21, 2023

I'm a Vodka drinker. Beer just doesn't do anything for me. With that being said. If I didn't like who was promoting my drink. I just would not drink it. I wouldn't buy a bunch of something and smash. Also, Transgender female, male and gay people should be aloud to work. Anyways beer isn't much of a buzz to me. Waist of time.

FireDragon76 · Apr 21, 2023

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:
I'm a Vodka drinker. Beer just doesn't do anything for me. With that being said. If I didn't like who was promoting my drink. I just would not drink it. I wouldn't buy a bunch of something and smash. Also, Transgender female, male and gay people should be aloud to work. Anyways beer isn't much of a buzz to me. Waist of time.

What Dylan Mulvaney chooses to drink is certainly no reason for any well-adjusted, mature person to throw a tantrum. There's alot of moral panic on the Right about "cancel culture", but it seems some can't make up their minds if they are really against cancel culture or not, at least when it comes to companies not privileging their bigotry.

Tropical Wilds · Apr 21, 2023

Aussie Pete said:
Sure, Hilary Clinton could teach us all a lesson or two. Like calling voters deplorables. All businesses should go out of their way to denigrate and insult their traditional customer base. After all, the new generation of unemployables will soon hit the streets. They won't have any money, but they will be socially aware, politically correct and ready to live off the taxes of the few people left working.

No, the customer is not always right. But the impossible to please are pretty rare compared to those who have made billionaires out of the likes of Bezos, Gates, Ellison and co. In my sales career, I learned to treat every potential customer as if they were equally important. One of my best started out with a small project that took a lot of my time to design and quote.

Perhaps the reason they looked to somebody like him to be a brand influencer. If perception of a brand among their customers and non customers is that their “core base” are old people who are intolerant of diverse people and/or backgrounds with the red hat ideology, that’s not exactly the recipe for success with an overwhelming majority of the market. With smaller craft beers from progressive companies being the choice of the younger generations, they could have continued to stay silent and watch their stock ebb away as it had been doing, or they could show they’re something beyond red state beer.

Considering their stock saw a bump at the announcement and it has largely retained that bump, seems like it was a smart business choice. “The customer is always right” is a dead business model and has been for some time, thank goodness. Companies figured out awhile ago that appealing to a problematic base at the expense of expansion was the path to a long, slow, painful demise.

It’s funny you mention that companies have to appeal to the next generation of unemployables. It’s comments like that remind them they absolutely have to appeal to the next generation, because the old boomer generation that says reactionary, false, and alienating stuff like that is now dying off, literally, and that trend will only rapidly accelerate from here on out. Companies get that dead people who shook their fists at progress aren’t the ones who will keep the company lights on in 5-10 years. It’s the generations after that (you know, the ones paying into the system being used by the boomers despite it likely not being around for them, and averaging more working hours per year than any generation post worker equity and fair labor laws).

So really, you’re just upset that in a capitalist society, your opinion is less valuable than it’s ever been to big business. A large adjustment after being the only demographic who’s opinion most companies cared about for the better part of 50-60 years.

ThatRobGuy · Apr 22, 2023

FireDragon76 said:
What Dylan Mulvaney chooses to drink is certainly no reason for any well-adjusted, mature person to throw a tantrum. There's alot of moral panic on the Right about "cancel culture", but it seems some can't make up their minds if they are really against cancel culture or not, at least when it comes to companies not privileging their bigotry.

I had started a separate thread about this (this thread is more about the marketing aspect, mine was about the reactions it was getting from people).

I had pointed out where Coors, Miller, and Bud had all done various pride-themed cans for the past several years now, and there wasn't nearly this type of backlash over it.

I think there are a couple different dynamics at play here.

One being, those efforts were aimed at recognizing a demographic as a whole (in a sense of wanting equal rights and inclusion), as to where this one was prominently featuring one particular person from that group who happens to be a rather be polarizing person due to past and recent comments and actions that some find to be obnoxious.

Example: If there were a wine brand with a traditionally left-leaning customer base... It'd be the difference between having a special bottle for the month of May commemorating Jewish American Heritage month as a whole with a generic symbol like the Star of David, vs. putting out a bottle with a big smirking picture of Ben Shapiro on it, it'd be understandable why some people who were regular purchasers of that brand would feel a tad insulted by that.

The other thing is just the overall comfort level Americans have with these topics. While many have come around (even on the GOP side) to concepts like marriage equality, equal protections in the workplace, preventing housing discrimination, etc... Many people aren't comfortable with a trans influencer who dances around in a pair of tight shorts while singing a song about "normalizing the bulge".

Bud Light VP - How to graduate from ivy league yet fail in real life

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