Shortly before Mulvaney’s commercial appeared, Bud Light’s head of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, had given an interview complaining of the long-term decline of the brand. She didn’t say explicitly that the traditional, loyal Bud Light customer was going the way of the dinosaur, but anyone can read between the lines.
Well, these are words that, despite their thorough inanity, will be studied in business schools for a long time. Heinerscheid’s answer to a long-run problem led to short-term catastrophe: retailers in middle America suddenly couldn’t give away Bud Light. The product’s sales dropped 28 per cent month-over-month, and other Anheuser-Busch brands lost 10 per cent or more. The market capitalization of the corporate parent, AB InBev, is down by US$18 billion since April 1.
Industry experts warn that if Bud Light sales continue to be sluggish, liquor retailers are going to begin reallocating shelf space, which is the bread and butter of Big Beer profits. To say the least, the geniuses at Anheuser-Busch underestimated the American public’s degree of transfatigue. But they also seem guilty of having understood their own product poorly.