1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

This week in 2004, AB made some moves among top execs. That included a big promotion for Mike Owens to newly created position of veep of sales and mktg. Mike Owens previously had purview over sales only. He would report directly to AB prexy August Busch IV. Move "unites the two areas," marketing and sales "under a single strategic direction," wrote AB. Mike also joined AB strategy committee, a select group that ran entire co. Two other key AB execs put on strategy committee as well, Bob Lachky, veep of brand mgt and director global brand creative "who will continue to work directly" with August IV on key creative issues and Tony Ponturo, global media and sports mktg veep. All 3 execs remained on board of AB Inc, the beer co. Their "integration" into AB Cos Inc "through their position on the strategy committee is one more step" towards "a united and seamless management team," said August IV. Those moves bumped number of execs on strategy committee to 16. This week in 2008, in days following InBev's stunning takeover bid for AB, new details and different spins popped up by the minute. Among the latest that week: "Duck" and "Helium." Those were code names for Diageo and Heineken, Financial Times reported, used as InBev put together its "Project Aluminum" plan to buy AB. Those cos reportedly named by InBev execs as "two possible interlopers" in deal. Putting together Diageo and AB to create huge global alc bev behemoth had been bandied about for years, despite public bad blood between cos over equivalence, among other issues. A Heineken-AB match-up likely would raise antitrust eyebrows in US, but created a powerful brand portfolio, FT observed. And both co's were "keen to develop further" in growing Russia and China mkts. Heineken also had a relationship with FEMSA in US that coulda clashed with AB's half ownership of Modelo at the time. Heineken bought FEMSA's beer biz in 2010 and ABI bought other half of Modelo in 2013, but US govt insisted it sell half ownership of US importer Crown to Constellation, which owned the other half.This week in 2009, FEMSA veep Luis Duran noted "we're brands, not commodities," speaking at the Beverage Forum. "Sometimes we forget&hellip; we talk about efficiencies, talk about taking costs out of the system. But it's not all about costs," reminded Luis. Beer biz built on brands. Over last decade, FEMSA had quadrupled mktg investment on brands in US, and doubled shipments over the last 4 yrs. That along with having right mktg messages led to FEMSA "momentum." Trends continued up strong on Dos Equis and Tecate brands. In response to question, Luis said gains "not necessarily against Corona," tho FEMSA is "gaining some against domestic competitors." Blunt comment from Luis on distrib consolidation too, which he believed was "going to accelerate&hellip;. There is too much value" in consolidating and "too many wholesalers out there." Consolidation is "an unavoidable economic force."This week in 2012, INSIGHTS reported that after 2 stints as prexy at Pabst, Kevin Kotecki would take over prexy role at Mike's Hard Lemonade (Mark Anthony Brands). He replaced Phil O'Neil who was retiring and switching to a consulting role with co rather than moving to new Chicago base. Phil was prexy at Mike's for ~5 yrs over which time co sales nearly doubled. Just over 1 year later, Kevin departed Mike's which had "often undergone mgt changes," wrote INSIGHTS. Mike's was up slightly in 2012, but growth was slower than expected after years of doubling.This week in 2016, a new Bud Light ad debuted, which turned spotlight to same-sex marriage using same political theme it had intro'd at Super Bowl. The 30-second "Weddings" spot featured Bud Light Party spokespeople Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen at same-sex wedding reception reminding that "gay weddings: they're just like any wedding." Like others in the Party series, it depended on one-liners and visual gags to promote celebrations where all drinkers can "Raise One to Right Now." Ad was set to air in NY and CA during June, "the height of wedding season in America and also LGBT Pride Month," per AB statement. And "Bud Light has been a supporter of LGBT groups and causes for nearly 20 years," co reminded. "So as the brand goes public with that support, it may not be news to many within LGBT community, but it could be news to folks that largely don't interact with this community and may have a different response," wrote INSIGHTS.Other CPG companies started to feature same-sex couples in mainstream ads as Americans' support of same-sex marriage had flipped over last 15 years. In 2001, 57% of American adults opposed legalization of same-sex marriage, compared to 55% that favored it, according to Pew Research. And as marketers at Bud Light very likely knew, over 70% of Millennials favored it by 2016, added INSIGHTS.

Throwback Thursday

Publishing Info