Brewers Association makes ballsy bid to buy AB-InBev
This has the stuff of an award-winning PR campaign. It does not have any of that foam-at-the-mouth shrillness. It’s more tongue-in-cheek if anything. On 16 October 2017, the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit organisation that represents America’s 5,000+ small and independent brewers, announced the craft brewing community’s intent to “Take Craft Back” from the Big Brewers.
Over the past several years, Big Beer has been attempting to buy their way into the craft beer movement by acquiring small breweries at a rapid rate and using their acquisitions to invent craft brewing bona-fides. As AB-InBev represents the biggest of the Big Brewers, “Take Craft Back” aims to make AB-InBev’s shareholders an offer they cannot refuse.
The BA hopes to collect a cool USD 213 billion (you read correctly, billions not millions) towards that goal. The money is to be gathered via a crowdfunding campaign, the largest crowdfunding campaign in history.
The target is somewhat short of AB-InBev’s current market capitalisation – USD 235 billion – but, hey, if the BA manages to raise USD 213 billion, the rest should not be a problem. This appears like a daunting task. As was noted, it will require every man, woman, and child in the US contributing over USD 653 each to reach the goal, or just under USD 29 if everyone in the world contributed.
For the time being, no money needs to be sent to the BA. The BA will only collect the pledges after the full sum has been secured. When willing givers click on a button to donate, they have to provide an email address and check a box that reads, “I agree that we’ll be in touch if somehow, miraculously, against every odd, the USD 213 billion crowdfunding goal is reached. (We don’t expect to be in touch.) No credit card needed. We trust you’re 21 or over.”
By 5 November 2017, when we checked the campaign’s website takecraftback, more than USD three million had been pledged.
Though jocular in appearance, the “Take Craft Back ” campaign is fully serious in intent: raising people’s awareness why independence matters so much to craft brewers. As such it is in support of the BA’s recently released “Certified Independent Craft” seal and explains the BA’s hard line in defining what is and isn’t craft. As says the BA: “AB-InBev’s intention to permanently alter the craft landscape by presenting acquired brands as if they were truly, authentically independent ultimately narrows real choice in the marketplace for the beer lover.” It’s certainly difficult enough for craft brewers to compete against each another without AB-InBev, MillerCoors, and Constellation Brands crowding out shelf space.
In response, an AB-InBev spokesperson said that “We can take a joke! … While the fake money for this campaign ‘piles’ up, we will keep focusing our donations on giving back to communities across our country.”
