AB InBev correlates growth and awards success

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewing giant, has found a correlation of nearly 80% for brands that receive some of the advertising industry’s most-coveted awards and the assets in its portfolio that drive the most growth.

The insight

Marcel Marcondes, AB InBev’s global chief marketing officer, outlined the connection that brands which have accumulated top honours from WARC, Cannes Lions and the Effie Awards are also helping power its overall growth.

“The correlation that we have today is close to 80% between the brands that have been recognised and the brands that are driving growth for the company,” he said at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2022 Masters of Marketing conference.

Climbing the WARC rankings

Marcondes suggested that AB InBev’s long-term commitment to enhancing creative performance could be seen in the annual WARC Rankings:

• He noted that AB InBev occupied first place in WARC’s Creative 100 and Effective 100 in 2022, showing its ability to deliver content which is both engaging and impactful.
• He further reported that the brewer’s position for the creative company rankings had improved from 42nd spot in 2018 to 17th in 2019, third in 2020 and second in 2021.
• This demonstrated how the organisation has been able to make creative excellence a replicable outcome of its work.

Recognition at Cannes Lions

• AB InBev was named Creative Marketer of the Year at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
• Twenty-one of the company’s brands have collectively won 146 Lions since 2016. Within that, the company’s annual trophy hauls point towards its consistent progress.
• Its brands took home six Lions in 2016, rising to 40 in 2020/21 and 49 in 2022, when a campaign from Michelob Ultra also won the Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness.

Further proof of effectiveness

• AB InBev was crowned Most Effective Marketer in the Global Effie Index this year, too, a title it has never previously held.
• The firm was ranked 24th on the effectiveness-based list in 2017, again proving its long-term upward momentum.
• This is “probably the first time” a single brand owner had received the highest level of recognition from each of WARC, Cannes Lions and Effie, Marcondes observed.

The big question: So what?

• While marketers are familiar with the importance and rigour behind these awards programmes, members of the C-suite may be less knowledgeable in this area.
• More specifically, Marcondes said, it would be reasonable for a CEO to learn about these honours and ask, “So what? Why should I care about this?”
• Looking at the in-market performance of its most creative brands according to these awards can assist in answering those questions.
• Corona, for instance, is AB InBev’s fastest-growing global brand, while Brahma is its fastest-growing core (or priority) brand in Brazil, a position held by Michelob Ultra in the US and Carling Black Label in South Africa. “And the list continues,” said Marcondes.
• The correlation across the creative recognition for these brands and their financial metrics helps show that “we use creativity as a means to solve a consumer or business problem to drive growth,” Marcondes argued.