AB InBev's marketing lessons from Bud Light backlash

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewer, will renew its focus on using creativity to “address real consumer and business problems”, rather than work that “gets people’s attention”, following recent controversy involving its Bud Light brand.

Marcel Marcondes, the company’s global chief marketing officer, took time out during a keynote at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – where AB InBev was named as Creative Marketer of the Year for the second year in a row – to discuss this issue, which has put Bud Light at the heart of a much wider political debate.

The background

• In April, Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, created a post on Instagram for a brand partnership in support of a Bud Light sweepstake, prompting an immediate backlash from some conservative audiences.
• AB InBev’s response included placing two marketers on leave, and issuing a statement saying it had not intended to divide people, which drew criticism from progressives, who argued the company was not standing up for the LGBTQ+ community.
• The impact on revenue has been tangible, with Bud Light sales down by 24.4% year-on-year, during the week ending June 3.

Attention does not mean success

• Reflecting on the furore, Marcondes told the Cannes assembly, “It’s been a process of learning, and we’ve made a lot of mistakes.”
  
• Deciding to “chase attention in culture,” he suggested, is not always the right move. “Just because something gets a lot of attention, doesn’t mean it’s great.”
• “The big thing we’ve learned from experience is that the trap is when you think great work is what gets people’s attention, period,” he further explained.

Connecting creativity to business problems

• AB InBev’s creative credentials are not in dispute, as shown by the fact it won 49 Lions across ten brands from seven countries at last year’s Cannes Lions.
• But the firestorm engulfing Bud Light, Marcondes told the 2023 event, is a reminder that “creativity is great only when it’s used to address real consumer and business problems”.
• AB InBev, he continued, will be doubling down on its core mission, “which is to really understand our customers, which is to really celebrate and appreciate every customer that loves our brands, but in a way that can make them be together, not apart,” he said.

The importance of being “humble”

• Bud Light is not alone in getting caught up in the US culture wars, as demonstrated by Target, and even Chick-Fil-A, a long-time mainstay with conservative audiences.
• “It’s tough to see all the controversial and divisive debates happening in the US [in] the last couple of weeks involving lots of brands and companies, including, especially, Bud Light,” said Marcondes.
• One of his main recommendations: “When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble.”

Sourced from B&T, NBC News, New York Times, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, WARC