If you ever questioned the goodwill of our nation’s brewers, you cannot deny that when there is a water shortage due to a national disaster, our brewers are always there. While Frances was not as devastating as originally thought, it still inflicted $15 billion in damage and dropped 14 inches of rain.
As reported, A-B donated 14,000 cases of canned drinking water in Florida. The shipments are being delivered to the Anheuser-Busch Jacksonville, Florida brewery and to three Anheuser-Busch wholesalers: Quality Brands, Inc. in DeLand, City Beverage Co. in Orlando and Wayne Densch, Inc. in Sanford.
Miller Brewing Co. also donated five truckloads of 32oz bottles of drinking water through Orlando distributor Schenck Distributing Company, its other distributors in affected areas and its trucking suppliers. Miller’s Albany, Georgia Brewery bottled and is facilitating shipment of the emergency drinking water. Owens-Illinois Glass donated the bottles and NorthStar Print Group donated the labels.
Diageo again donated two giant generators (200 kilowatts each) that are now powering the Port St. Lucie pumping station, sending safe drinking water to the homes and shelters of over 88,000 residents of Port St. Lucie and the surrounding area. Local officials are using a third generator (150 kilowatts) provided by Diageo to restart Palm Bay Utilities’ power substations. A fourth generator is currently stationed at the Fort Pierce Emergency Operations Center which is being operated by the local police force.
Obviously, severe rains cut short many Labor Day beer drinking occasions across Florida, southeastern states, Texas, and some Midwestern states over the weekend. Easy comps for next year seems to be the strategy here. Think of how easy Labor Day ’05 will be.
WORST SUMMER IN YEARS. No doubt this wet and cold summer will go down as one of the worst in years. We thought last summer couldn’t get any worse, but this one was a cold and wet one in many of the largest beer drinking areas in the nation, particularly Texas, Florida, and the Mid-Atlantic states.
Look for A-B and Coors to post weaker thane expected Q3 results, while SABMiller continues to post strong growth.
FRESHNESS BILLBOARDS POPPING UP EVERYWHERE. Wow, that was fast. Bud Light freshness billboards are going up in huge numbers. A-B is pulling out all the stops on this campaign. Also, A-B put out a Mich Ultra billboard which compares Mich Ultra’s carbs and calories to…. Smirnoff Twisted V? Yes, that has many scratching their heads since the outdoor ad shows a bottle of Twisted V, a brand that doesn’t have ultra-high consumer awareness.
Look for freshness to be a cornerstone of A-B marketing from here on out. Get those inventories down, Myrtle, it’s going to be a lean winter.MTD Sell Day: 4… Sell Days This Month: 22 … Sell Days This Month Last Year: 22
YTD Over/Under Sell Days: +1 This Month Ends on a: Thur. Last Year This Month Ended on a: Tue.
