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A Free Subscription to Beverage Industry Magazine Budweiser has a wide variety of products just outside of alcohol beverages. Not only does Budweiser have several types of beer, but they also have a product line from apparel, sport paraphernalia, and ring tones for cell phones. Budweiser's marketing mix is very well executed for the products, price, place, and promotions. Budweiser stays consistent with the marketing mix. Other than the brewing of the beer, Budweiser includes marketing through sports. They plaster their logo among race cars, in stadiums, arenas, concert stages, and many more places. ( NYAMA, 2005, p. 2) Budweiser not only markets at such places, but they also sponsor many of the functions and hold their promotions. For Example, Budweiser markets their product in stadiums. Budweiser has picked up sponsoring over 32 NFL teams. Budweiser will have promotions such as special "Party Zone" seating areas, utility vehicles with a football theme painted on them, and a tailgate party with the Budweiser theme. (All Business, 1999-2007, p. 1) Budweiser's apparel and other products are based not only around their alcohol beverages, but around the sports they sponsor and teams who are involved with Budweiser. Their marketing mix revolves around primarily sports and to the sport fans. Their prices are competitive to compete with their competitors as well. All the aspects of the marketing mix is consistent with one another and revolve around the same advertising aspect of sports.
Budweiser does an excellent job of serving the needs of the consumer. Budweiser's most targeted audience is the young adult male. Anheuser – Busch was very careful when dishing out money for marketing, so they made sure they placed their money with one aim in mind, to target the audience of males 21-34 years of age. (Gillo, 2001, p.2) Young adult males are the largest population of beer drinkers; this is why Budweiser targets this age group. (Kolter, 2001, p 4 ) The best way to reach this target of consumers is through what they what they enjoy the most, sports. Budweiser serves their needs by providing them with top quality beer they enjoy as well as providing products such as apparel that intertwines with their sports team / person they enjoy. I did my own personal survey on why men choose Budweiser over other beer products. Only survey a few people the responses were the same. Budweiser does not have the bitter beer taste, it is decently priced, and Budweiser is involved in their favorite sports.
Budweiser should expand the target audience in which they market their product to. Today, many women are just as much into sports as men are as well as into having a good drink of beer. According to Jean Grillo, Budweiser is adding more networks so that they may be able to reach the target audience of woman as well as the older age group of seniors. ( 2001, p. 2) By reaching out to the various age groups and gender for their product, Budweiser has come out with non alcoholic products such as Michelob and O'Douls. (Grillo, 2001, p. 2)
Budweiser is on the ball with knowing what the public wants and what style is in for each product. There is no recommendation to make when it comes to Budweiser's products. They are constantly changing their sizes, flavors, and benefits to their product.
Budweiser is constantly changing their look as well as their image through advertising, as well s products. For example, Budweiser has just recently changed the bottle look to an aluminum bottle. This compliments the image and style of Budweiser drinkers according to Andy Goeler, senior director of Budweiser Marketing Anheuser – Busch Inc. (2005, p. 1) Budweiser also will package a product to the image of who they sponsor. For example, NASCAR is perhaps one of the biggest sport Budweiser sponsors. Dale Earnhardt Jr, the driver of the number eight Budweiser Chevrolet stock car is one of Budweiser's most popular sports icon. Budweiser sponsor's his car as well as builds his packaging of special promotion bottles of beer around him. I personally, have a Budweiser beer bottle in which the packaging of the bottle has Dale Jr. wrapped around the entire bottle along with his car and the Budweiser logo. There is nothing I would change when it comes to the packaging of Budweiser.
Budweiser's pricing is in line with their competitor's. When shopping for beer, I have found that Budweiser is very close to the same price as their competitors. Although, geographical factors do play a role in the pricing of their product, in some states you can purchase a twelve pack of Budweiser for $7.99, in other areas a twelve pack may run $8.99. As you can see however, the prices are not far from each other. Not only does Budweiser keep their beer prices along the same path as their competitors, but their other product lines such as apparel are fairly priced as well. Depending on which place you chose to purchase such items can depend on the price as well.
Budweiser beer can be purchased in any grocery store, convenient store, liquor store, sport events, concerts, or any other alcohol based store or function. Any place that holds a liquor license will sell Budweiser. As stated earlier, Budweiser promotes their beer at stadiums, arenas, concert halls. Each of these places you can purchase Budweiser products. Budweiser certainly does have enough channels in which to market. Is there anything Budweiser can add to improve on this? Budweiser has one of the top marketing mixes there is in a brand. They expand their marketing from showing off on a race car to being scene at a sports function. They also can be found in any store you walk into as well as having their own network called Bud TV. Budweiser picked up four awards at the 49th Annual International Advertising Festival for their ads they marketing through commercials. (Modern Brewery Age, 2002, p. 1) Budweiser has all of their marketing channels as well as outlets covered in my opinion.
The only recommendation I would suggest for Budweiser's advertising would be to step away from the animated animal commercials such as the frogs, or using any other animals in their advertising. Even though Budweiser is famous for showing off their Clydesdale Horses, it has been proven by using animated animals in their commercials, they are targeting young children and young teens. Budweiser is an alcohol product. The legal age to drink is twenty-one. Budweiser should take in consideration who might be enjoying their ads or commercials the most. In a press conference on Alcohol Advertising Reforms, George A. Hacker, the Director of Alcohol Policies Project, states that animated cute animals being accompanied by rock n roll is being used to promote Budweiser, mesmerizes the young children and teens. (1996, p. 2) According to USA Today's Ad Track Poll, Budweiser using the frogs made them the most popular commercial aired on TV. Most children can remember the Budweiser frogs and recall them by name more than they can Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes kid's cereal. (Hacker, 1996, p.2 ). Though Budweiser does not intentionally market to this age group, when advertising such commercials they are capturing the attention of the young children. Budweiser is very known for their funny commercial and ads and even I as a person enjoy them; however, I recommend that Budweiser takes a little more control and advertise their product to an adult target manner. This will take some real creativity as well as time and money I am sure. Budweiser does make sure they send the clear message of do not drink and drive as well as drink responsibly when advertising their commercials. There are no other recommendations I would recommend to better their execution, advertisement, or media aspect of their product.
Budweiser has a very great marketing aspect and take a lot of time, thought, and effort in how they market their products. Their commercials rank towards the top especially in Super Bowl commercials. The marketing mix is very wide and I can not think of a better brand who possibly has a better marketing skill than Budweiser. Personally, I do not drink; however, I myself find the Budweiser ad's the best there is and find them absolutely hilarious and enjoyable. I am a big NASCAR fan and of course my driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr, and I have quite a variety of Budweiser products and apparel to support my driver. I am very upset and sad to see Dale Jr. leaving Budweiser as of the end of this year to Pepsi. Kasey Kahne, the driver of the number 9 Dodge will be assuming Dale Jr. role with Budweiser. Expect new commercials spot lighting a new NASCAR driver next season.
References
NYAMA Marketing Hall of Fame. (2005).
All Business. Budweiser Kicks off Fall Football Promotions. (2002, Oct. 1) Retail Mercandiser.
Grillo, J. B. (2001, April 2) Anheuser – Busch: Keeping Success Flowing. Brandweek Retrieved on July 27, 2007. Academic Search Premier Kaplan Library
Kolter, M. (2001, Feb 26) Kolter Marketing Group: Strategic Marketing in China. Retrieved on August 6, 2007.
Lynnette. (2005 Jun 3) Budweisers New Marketing Ideas. Retreived on August 6, 2007.
Hacker G. A. ( 1996 May 16) Alcohol Policies Project: Press Conference. Retreived on July 27, 2007