USA: Anheuser-Busch to increase TV advertising spending by $100 million for core beer brands

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. plans to increase spending by at least $100 million on television advertisements next year for its four core brands while reducing its spending on its small brands, the Wall Street Journal reported November 19.

A-B will spend about $70 million more than it has this year on advertisements for its top-selling beers, Bud Light and Budweiser, according to the Journal's online story. Its other two core brands, Michelob and Michelob Ultra, will receive about $30 million in ads focusing on the traditional way A-B brews the beer.

A message left with an Anheuser-Busch spokesman was not immediately returned.

The Journal reports that this increase in spending on A-B's core brands will result in reduced spending on smaller brands like Bud Select and Rolling Rock.

The change comes after research into changing consumer habits showed there is potential to target some of A-B's mainstream brands, such as Michelob, at consumers who favor craft beer and imports, the Journal reported.

"I think we have a better knowledge of who the consumer is and what we need to tell them," Dave Peacock, vice president of marketing, told the paper.

A-B spent $247 million on advertising in the first six months of this year, and $183 million of that was spent on TV ads, according to ad-research firm TNS Media Intelligence. About 60 percent of TV ad spending was on the four core brands, according to the Journal.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. (NYSE: BUD), the largest domestic brewer, manufactures and recycles aluminum cans and operates theme parks. The company holds a 48.4 percent share of U.S. beer sales.

21 November, 2007