Dear Client:
This has come as a bit of a surprise. Bud Light Golden Wheat has now effectively picked up all of the slack of Bud Light’s declines in supermarkets in volume, and more than picked up the slack in dollars (since it is priced higher). While there have been some discussion in these pages and elsewhere about the wisdom of extending off the largest brand in the U.S. for the long term, clearly the strategy is paying off now and is making A-B more money.
Bud Light Golden Wheat’s supermarket share now stands at 0.5 points in IRI scans (October 09), which makes it the fastest growing new brand since, well, Bud Light Lime. It’s growth has been remarkable, and anecdotal evidence points to strong repeat buys, we’re told. Interestingly, Bud Light has lost the same amount of share, 0.5%. On top of that, Bud Light Lime lost 0.1 points of share, for a net Bud Light brand family share loss of 0.1 points. But that’s not the whole story.
When you look at dollars, the Bud Light franchise is still growing. Bud Light’s dollar share in October lost 0.5 points, Bud Light Golden Wheat gained 0.7 points, and Bud Light Lime lost 0.2 points. So bottom line, the Bud Light brand family is dead even on dollar share with last year. In a tough year for premium lights, the mega-brand strategy seems to be paying off. And the striking and surprising rapid success of BL Golden Wheat may still be accelerating if anecdotal evidence of repeat buys is to be believed. If so, we could end the year with the Bud Light brand family growing in dollar share. November and December scans will be interesting to watch.
WASHINGTON LIQUOR BOARD BANS REFERENCES TO ENERGY DRINKS IN STATE STORES
The Washington State Liquor Control Board has approved a new policy that prohibits any references to combining energy drinks with alcohol on point-of-sale materials in its states stores, including but not limited to bottle labels, back-cards, bottle neckers, shelf talkers, posters, displays, unique displays, price signs, recipe cards, and rebates.
In a statement, the Board acknowledged that “there is an emerging consensus among scientists and medical professionals that the combination of energy drinks and alcohol is not safe, and poses a potentially serious public health risk.” Suppliers and brokers are responsible to ensure their compliance by January 1, 2010.
They proposed the policy in mid October and requested stakeholder and public comments through October 20, 2009. On October 28, 2009 the Board considered the two written comments received, and voted to approve the policy.
BEER BRIEFS:
THE UK BREWER BREWDOG BREWS the strongest beer in the UK, and everybody there has gone bonkers over it. They write on the label: “Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time, have excess. This beer is for those times.” Heh ha. It’s clever and funny. But the brewer is under intense scrutiny. A retailer alert bulletin is being issued for shops to remove the beer from their shelves until Brewdog complies with marketing standards. BrewDog says the ban is a waste of time because the product is only sold in a handful of specialist shops in the UK, and 90% is exported.
MOLSON COORS announced that Sherri Heckel Kuhlmann has been promoted to chief compliance officer of the company and Mike Abbass is taking on the new role of vice president and general counsel, Molson Coors International.
FROM THE BIZARRO FILES. A midtown Manhattan hair salon — Erica Fleischman Men’s Salon — is now offering a beer rinse for your hair. The best part: you get to pick the brand. Guinness, Corona, and Sam Adams are offered. Listen, we can use the depletions any way we can get them.
Until tomorrow, Harry
“I want to put a ding in the universe.”
-Steve Jobs
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