July 9th, 2008
The Beer and Its Brand
“It’s not that we love Budweiser more than, say, Miller or Coors. (Well, technically, most Americans do love it more: Bud has outsold both brands for decades.) It’s that we love the idea of Budweiser, or, more accurately, Anheuser-Busch. Immigrants founded the company and, in the course of about 30 years, transformed it from nothing into one of the world’s largest breweries. … That’s why I love Anheuser-Busch and Bud. I am them, and they are me: a mixture of old world and new, hard work, tenacity and ambition.”
So blogged Maureen Ogle, author of “Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer,” in The Washington Post several days ago. What do I know about beer? Virtually nothing, unless you count my supreme annoyance at all the beer drinkers I know who leave their cans and bottles in the sink, waiting for the house cleaning fairy to appear.
But my attention was grabbed by an NPR story yesterday about the attempt, by a Belgian company, to buy Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturers of our beloved Bud. If ever there was a morality tale about brand, this is it. Does Bud taste better — no. Do people buy it for its taste? Arguable. What sets this Bud apart from all the rest is the story that is inexctricably linked, as Ogle points out above, to the product.
Think “King of Beers” and “Here’s to you, America.”
What other brands would consumers fight for because of what they represent? Coke? Campbell’s chicken noodle soup?
It is the story that we prize, that separates Budweiser from all comers……“That’s why I love Anheuser-Busch and Bud. I am them, and they are me: a mixture of old world and new, hard work, tenacity and ambition.”
We should all be so lucky with our brands. Go out, find your story and stick to it.
