Website Beer Studs calls for boycott of AB-InBev-owned craft beers
When the Brewers Association published its list of “crafty” beer brands in 2012, it received a lot of flak for this obvious tactic of blacklisting. Now the beer blog Beer Studs has published what they are calling the “The Cut Off”, which lists all the “impostor” craft beer brands that have been acquired by AB-InBev.
This time round, no one seems to object that Beer Studs is encouraging drinkers to join a boycott.
Many breweries have defended their move to sell to AB-InBev, citing it has allowed them to hire many more employees, invest in communities and more.
But craft beer propagandists still call them “sell-outs” – a label as vicious in the craft beer world as it is in the music industry. “The Cut Off” even includes a list of craft beer websites that write about these beers and calls for a boycott of these sites as well.
If AB-InBev thinks the outrage over its craft beer acquisitions will eventually die down, they may be mistaken. As the marketing expert Mark Ritson argues in a recent blog (30 May 2017), beer is a different juice and craft beer drinkers a different breed.
While consumer goods companies have all built brand architectures, under which they own different brands belonging to one category – for example, shampoos Pantene, Head & Shoulders and Vidal Sassoon are all manufactured by Procter & Gamble – this may not work for Big Brewers buying into craft.
As says Mr Ritson: “Experienced marketers will begin to spot a potential problem in all of this. If target consumers become aware of the parentage of AB-InBev’s growing stable of former craft beer brands, it could undermine the brand image of the brews and result in their widespread rejection in the market.”
“Before we go any further let’s make it abundantly clear that this is a very rare event. Typically, customers do not have the faintest clue about the organisational parentage of brands they may have had an enduring purchase history with. The consumers who buy craft beer buy it because of its craft. They prefer their beer local and independent and made by a slightly mad bloke who takes his beer far too seriously.”
Working on the illusion of choice for consumers, brand architecture only works if the brands’ provenance remains a secret. Usually consumers are too lazy and competitors too equivalent to draw attention to the secret connections.
But in the case of craft beer, which has built its attraction on emotional ties between consumers and brands, AB-InBev could face a backlash if news got out that they are behind several much-beloved craft beers.
This leads Mr Ritson to argue: “When much of what you are buying is independence and craft, a parent that stands for the opposite is a killer of a brand association.”
“What emerges from all this”, says Mr Ritson, “is inarguably one of the great brand challenges of recent years. Can AB-InBev pull off the dual marketing feat of maintaining its big brands while nurturing its newly acquired craft labels at the same time? The company certainly has the brand strategy capabilities but it will require an exceptional period of careful planning and execution to pull it off.”
He is not alone in wondering.
Mr Ritson’s full post can be found at www.marketingweek.com
