Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.: Beer … Or Michelob? campaign
Judson KnightOVERVIEW
In 1998 Anheuser-Busch Companies, the Saint Louis, Missouri-based brewery best known for its premium Budweiser and Bud Light beers, greatly increased the advertising budget of its Michelob line of superpremium beers. After spending just over $17 million in 1996 and even less in 1997 on promoting Michelob, Anheuser-Busch devoted an estimated $30 million to the brand in 1998, primarily for a television-based campaign created by Leap Partnership of Chicago. Using the tagline "Beer … or Michelob?" the campaign sought to differentiate Michelob from a confusing plethora of super-premium, specialty,...