Beer: It's Not The Taste, Stupid

The US Beer Market

The discussion on the U.S. beer market inevitably turns to Budweiser and its corner on the American suds market, no matter which segment is discussed. After all, how many other crowded consumer categories can boast a market leader with a 50 percent share?

Stealing Share has investigated the beer market in the U.S. many times, and our brand work has carved out plenty of opportunity for some of America’s most successful micro-brews and we have delved deeply into the reasons why beer drinkers choose the beer they prefer.

Taste has nothing to do with it.

How we can possibly say that when we have heard plenty of Bud drinkers, for example, proclaim that the only way Coors would cross their lips is when they are cold and dead because of its taste? You see, in our own blind taste tests, not a single beer drinker could tell which beer was Bud, Coors or Miller. What this means is that there is something else going on in beer brand preference and it is not about taste.

Change is Ahead

Research demonstrates that it is all about brand and, thus far, Budweiser has owned the leading brand. However, market forces are changing and the opportunity for the rest of the market to take advantage is finally here.

Before we get to that, let’s examine taste vs. brand. If you are foolish enough to ask beer drinker why they prefer the brand of beer they buy, they will emphatically tell you because they love the taste. (Which helps explain why Boston Beer is trying so hard to convince us its beer “tastes better”). The problem is we have already established that taste is not the primary driver in beer preference even though we are yet to find a beer drinker who did not tell us they liked the taste of their preferred brand. Therefore, trying to get beer drinkers to switch brands based on taste is an exercise in futility. It might gain you trial, but it won’t get you preference.

How To Build Preference

To create that preference, you have to delve into the anthropology of brand preference and subsequent switching triggers. Why? Because, more than any other category, beer preference is an emotional connection and not a rational one — or even a “taste” provable reality. Bud drinkers prefer Budweiser because of the brand and not because of the product. “Beachwood Aged” simply does not matter.

Interestingly, when you look at the mass of commercials and advertising that comes out of St. Louis, you might even believe that Bud was the providence of the “cool” crowd. Young, hip, irreverent, self deprecating and hooked on MTV and Comedy Central. After all, some of the best comedy seen on television in years can be traced to the Budweiser franchise commercial messages. You find a different profile, however, when you look deeper into values, beliefs, precepts and brand attachments. The most loyal Budweiser drinkers, in general, are middle-aged men with potbellies who live for NASCAR and the NFL season. They have conservative values and are more apt to be flying “old glory” on Memorial Day than their neighbors.

So why the ferocious preference?

Well, we won’t give away what our clients have paid us to uncover, but it suffices to say that Bud taps into what it means to be American mainstream. That is why it seems timely for Budweiser to be launching is newest addition — American Ale - in an effort to grab part of the micro craze without having to buy another franchise like they did with the Widmer acquisition.

But the strategy might finally backfire on the 800-pound gorilla, and the first one to take advantage will find itself stealing market share.

Selling “American” is beginning to feel a bit like Madison Avenue-speak for Budweiser because the takeover by Belgium headquartered InBev has changed the brand landscape. To those of us who watch pop culture closely for its brand implications, this sale is akin to Disneyworld being purchased by North Korea. It just does not sit well.

The Fall of The King

Here’s a prediction, and Budweiser’s competitors should take note. Bud will begin to lose market share to other competitors because its loyal drinkers will start to assert Bud does not taste the same anymore. Because InBev has taken over Budweiser, something has changed.

And those drinkers will be right, although not for the reasons they think. It’s not taste. Rather, it will be the promise of the “American” brand and the broken hearts of those who believed in it.

Comments:

I agree. At Shea Stadium, right after the news of the acquisition there was a giant scoreboard ad for Bud.

a closeup of a sweaty bottle and a flag draped across the massive rectangle.

the words were something to the effect of
we spent a lot of money on this billboard to condescend to you. drink America.

at least that's what I perceived. It reeked of fail and i hated it. I would have respected a message that said 'only the ownership changed we still employ xxx number of Americans and its still the greatest American tradition you can be proud of.

PS... test college students- they buy a boatload of beer and can definitely identify beers in a blind taste test... but not when they are all ice-cold which is the point, the cheapest beer is just fine when 'chilled to perfection'
posted by agreed on 4/21/2009 9:26:00 AM

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