State court judge ultimately did not grant Oak and 3 AB distribs a preliminary injunction.  That meant Heineken could go thru with termination of NY metro distribs and move its brands.  New Heineken distribs for those areas are Phoenix and Lobo (owned by same family), which already sell about 5 mil cases of Heineken and are now selling in areas that accounted for an additional 3.6 mil cases of Heineken product.   Heineken and terminated distribs still fighting in court over damages and what constitutes reasonable compensation.  More details in Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS.

Zulanas Dist (about 4.6 mil cases) just sold to Western Murray, which used to be mainly a wine and spirit wholesaler.  It sold wine & spirits biz a few mos back.  Miller/Coors not really possible here as Coors has branch close to home.  AB has branch in Denver too, making it tuff place to compete.  Molson brands switched to Coors branch natch, but were subject of some testy negotiations.  Zulanas family had sold its Chi area biz to buy Miller in most of Colo less than 3 yrs ago.  That followed a  short-lived foray as Miller distrib in St. Louis.  

AB retail sales growth slowed to less than 1.5% in 2d half 2000 after 3.9% growth in 1st half.  AB reported that its shipments growth slowed to 1.4% in 4th qtr.  More significantly, sales-to-retailers were up 1% in 4th qtr, following 1.7% growth in 3d.  Recall that AB said it lost about 1 point of retail sales growth in 3d qtr because of way July 4th holiday fell and that 4th qtr  2000 was “impacted somewhat” by millenium celebration in 99.  But do AB’s slower recent trends mean imports and new products now affecting AB growth rate?  We’ll see in 2001.  In meantime, AB said Bud Light up double-digits for 9th straight yr.    

In recently-released JP Morgan 2000 Beer Survey of over 250 distribs rating brewers on scale of 1-5, AB got top marks for both on-premise (4.6) and off-premise mktg support (4.5); Miller scored 3.4/3.8, and Coors got 3.3/3.6. AB also rated highest in "efforts to maintain/improve wholesaler relationships," Coors took #2 spot, and Miller barely edged out Heineken and Corona for #3. Survey asked distribs to rate beer co's "efforts to consolidate wholesalers." Distribs rated Miller tops with 3.85 points; edged out AB (3.81), and Coors (3.5).

Meanwhile, AB sez it sold over 750,000 bbls of Bud in Ireland in 99, that Bud now #2 brand there. Interestingly AB scored great growth tho Bud contract-brewed by intl competitor Guinness and distribs there ain't exclusive. Also: 85% of beer in Ireland sold on-premise; 61% of Bud is draft. Brewers ship all draft direct; distribs handle packaged beer only.

Light beer is the growth category in US beer biz, but leading light brand can't even get off ground in United Kingdom. And so AB just announced that it's pulling Bud Light from British mkt.

AB ponied up for four full minutes of airtime for upcoming Superbowl - most of any of about 20 participating advertisers. Avg paid for all ads at $2.3 mil for a single 30-second spot. With 800 million viewers worldwide, Superbowl is "the dominant media vehicle anywhere," AB corporate media veep Tony Ponturo told USA Today. Ads will include Bud and Bud Light, responsible drinking, maybe Michelob. Meanwhile, cash crunch clearly put the hurt on lotsa dot-coms: just 3 bought Superbowl ad space, down from 17 last yr. CBS turned down Diageo ads for Smirnoff Ice during Superbowl. Local networks will show Smirnoff Ice ads, reports Wall St Jnl.

In yr 2000, 4 out of 14 execs changed on AB’s key Strategy Committee that has run the co since mid-70s.  That’s most we remember in any 1 yr in a long time.   The 4 new ones: August Busch IV,  Mark Bobak, Joe Sellinger and Vic Abbey.  Three of these 4 new guys are in their late 30s or 40s.  This represents beginnings of next generational shift in leadership.