Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.: Beer … Or Michelob? campaign

In a bid to differentiate Michelob beer from a confusing range of super-premium, and microbrewery brands flooding the US, Anheuser-Busch increased its advertising budget from $17 million (approximately £8.5 million at 2008 rates) in 1996 to $30 million (£15 million) in 1998.

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.: Beer … Or Michelob? campaign

Judson Knight

OVERVIEW

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,...

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