Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

In the traditional sense, Anheuser Busch and its products, like Bud Light, do not fall into the business marketing category, as Bud Light is marketed to consumers for personal consumption, as opposed to a business to business sale. Rather, Anheuser Busch's business marketing consists of the relationship it has with the Anheuser Busch wholesalers. There are currently 500 different Anheiser Busch wholesalers spread across the United States. These wholesalers work closely with Anheuser Busch to provide seamless and consistent distribution of all beverages.

The system of having wholesalers is unique in the beer industry and different than most companies who distribute directly to retail stores. The three tier system in place, where one company makes the beer, another ships it, and a third sells it, has been in place since prohibition. It was originally designed to create a more consistent system and keep aggressive sales tactics in check. Anheuser Busch has recently begun to encourage consolidation of its wholesalers, and has even acquired some itself. Anheuser Busch already owns 14 distributorships, which it refers to as "branches", and has encouraged its other wholesalers to consolidate.For instance, the largest wholesaler in Florida sold last year to two different existing distributors, dividing the territory in half but consolidating by merging into the two other existing territories.
The relationship between wholesalers and Anheuser Busch is an extremely lucrative one. Wholesalers typically acquire Bud Light for $4.00 a case, on average, and resell it for an average of $19.79, a markup of more than 300%. These business to business sales result in huge profits for wholesalers.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Market segmentation is the process through which Bud Light was originally conceived and created. . Miller Light had been introduced 9 years earlier as the first light, or "diet", beer, and Anheuser Busch had been working on competitive product. Bud Light came to fruition as a product item, which later developed into a product line, as a direct result of Miller Light and its success. There was now a specific market segment consisting of beer drinkers who desired and sought out light beers.

The market segment for Bud Light can be broken down from very general all the way to a specific market segment. In the most general sense, a market segment for Bud Light could be any individual over the age of 21, since that is the legal drinking age. More specifically, Bud Light has discovered that its target market is individuals 21-27. Since its inception, it has always been that age group that makes up the largest number of consumers, starting with baby boomers and continuing to move all the way through generation X and millennials.

Bud Light uses a concentrated targeting strategy to increase its market penetration. The best example is though Bud Lights sponsorship of sporting events. With big sports organizations such as the NFL and the FIFA World Cup, Bud Light is consistently increasing its market share amongs young adults. 

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

The development of Bud Light came to fruition as an answer to the newly released Miller Light, and a need for Anheuser Busch to fill a void in their product portfolio. Bud Light became a new product in 1982 when it was introduced nationally. The initial strategy for Bud Light was to market it as an extension of the Budweiser name. Anheuser Busch wanted capitalize on the “quality and heritage” associated with Budweiser. The development of Bud Light relied heavily on marketing campaigns, such as the original theme “Bring out your Best". Throughout is marketing history, Bud Light has always targeted 21-27 and remains the #1 favorite brand among consumers ages 21-27.

As i wrote before, the Bud Light product line now includes Bud Light, Bud light Lime, Bud Light Platinum,  and "The Ritas" (Bud Light Lime Lime-A-Rita and Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita) With its increased alcohol content, Bud Light Platinum created a new segment in beer, essentially marrying the hard liquor category with beer. The "Ritas" created a category of their own, with the merging of a cocktail (in this case, margaritas) and Bud Light Lime, a beer.

Ch. 12 - Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Services are the result of applying human or mechanical efforts to people or objects. Anheuser Busch is a company whose primary objective is to produce and sell a product, beer. As i have discussed before, Bud Light is one of the biggest sellers for Anheuser Busch. Bud Light is not a service, or a nonprofit organization. Anheuser Busch does work closely with three nonprofit organizations that they have chosen to donate funds to, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, UNCF, and Teach for America.
Anheuser Busch clearly places an emphasis on supporting educational initiatives.

 
Anheuser Busch does provide services through their wholesalers and distributors, as well. The most obvious for of service is the relationship between the wholesaler and retailer. I learned when I visited a local retailer, that Anheuser Busch is the only distributor who controls their product display. Their drivers and delivery men are exclusively responsible for where the product is placed on the shelves, how it is displayed, and any promotional collateral and set up, therefor providing a service to the retailer in addition to just delivering a product.   

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

 

Anheuser Busch has a brand identity that is recognized all over the world due to its wide spread distribution of its products. Anheuser Busch's beers are shopping products. Although they are readily available, like a shopping product, there is a lot of competition, and in many instances the purchase decision requires more thought and research than an everyday shopping product.

As discussed earlier, Bud Light was introduced in 1982. Bud Light marked the beginning of a new product line for Anheuser Busch. Bud Light has used product line extensions to add additional beers under the Bud Light umbrella. The current beverages sold with a Bud Light label are: 

• Bud Light 

•  Bud Light Platinum 

•  Bud Light Lime

• Bud Light Lime Ritas (lime and strawberry)

 




Bud Light is a brand, differentiating itself from the competition. Using consistent, family branding across the globe, Bud Light has become a global brand. Bud Light sold outside of the United States now represents 51% of its total sales, due in large part to huge success in China. The launch of Bud Light Platinum and Bud Light Lime Straw-ber-Rita were each the most successful launches in the beer category in 2012 and 2013. Bud Light Platinum had a dollar share growth of 1.3 million in 2012 and Bud Light Lime Straw-ber-Rita had a dollar share growth of 0.7 million in 2013.