The logo for Budweiser goes with the slogan of ‘King Of Beers’. The logo consists of a gold crown, over the ‘B’ of Budweiser, which I think promotes the fact that Budweiser is a swanky lager. The name in itself could also be classed as the logo. The font of the name is of a fancy Elizabethan type. It is written in gold, which shows that it is of class and is a very high class. The writing also is made to stand out, as it has a black shadow. I think that this is to show that the name stands out, and so does the lager. The colour of the backing for the logo is red, which I believe is a high-class colour traditionally worn by the rich.
Although the logos and slogans are giving off the appeal that the rich mainly drink Budweiser, the product (and most other lagers) are mainly consumed by people in the lower classes. Budweiser, in my opinion, is marketed to men, aged between 18 and about 30 in socio-economic groups C2 to E. I thought that it would be marketed in these groups because these are the most likely to go down to the pub and drink beers and lagers such as Budweiser, or they are the most likely to go on 18 – 30 holidays where all they drink is alcohol.
The packaging of Budweiser is not really for any marketing purpose. Because of this, there is nothing really special about the packaging. Budweiser is sold in cans, bottles (with a browny gold tinge), kegs etc.
I think that, in terms of The Product Life Cycle, Budweiser is in maturity. I think they may have been in this stage because they have had many extension strategies. There has been the low calorie version of Budweiser: Bud Light. Bud Ice, and many other versions of the original Budweiser format.
Budweiser has done these extension strategies in order to make sure that they will always keep selling the product. If they slip below the competition, then they may never make it back to where they were.
PROMOTION
Sales Promotion
As Budweiser is sold in many different ways, there can be numerous different types of sales promotions. There are price reductions and Buy One Get One Free, such as at Supermarkets, happy hours at pubs, and added value, e.g. Extra Free. They have also done charity promotions, see Public Relations, and competitions, such as go to Euro 2004.
They don’t actually do many sales promotions, but they sell lots of merchandising. They sell numerous items, such as hats, T-shirts, bottle openers (obviously why) and even beer coolers.
Most of the things that they do is to make more people buy their product over any other beer or lager. The merchandising is a bit different, because most people who choose to wear a hat with the logo of their favourite beer do not look cool, and end up looking stupid. The beer cooler and bottle openers are obvious because it is to make the consumer feel as if they have the Budweiser cooler and need to fill it with Budweiser, thus making them sell more Budweiser. It’s like they’ve caught them in a net, Buy this, and so you can also buy all of these.’
Sponsorship
Budweiser sponsors a number of different things. These mostly consist of sporting events and football teams. Budweiser is the official Beer of Manchester United, which has millions of fans across the world, and means that those millions of people will know of Budweiser because it is related to the Manchester United team.
As well as football, Budweiser sponsors the BMW Williams F1 team, which is also viewed by millions of people across the world during the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Budweiser is also the sponsor of the American NASCAR racing circuit. This, as well as F1 is viewed by millions of people throughout the world.
Also, Budweiser is the sponsor of music events, which shows that they are getting younger people into their beer. It is the official beer of Glastonbury (the music festival), which is viewed, not only by people there, but also by people watching at home. The types of people that go to the Glastonbury festival are mainly young, because of the types of bands playing their, and usually will be into partying with beers and the like (because Glastonbury is quite a rough music festival). Budweiser is also the sponsor of V Festival, put together by Virgin Music, where it is selling Budweiser for a mere £1.
It is obvious that the things that Budweiser sponsors events, which are mainly viewed by men (for sports), and are watched by people around 18-30, which are the main people which go to clubs to drink beer. This shows that Budweiser is clearly marketed to people who watch sports, men, and people who enjoy a more action packed life, by partying and going to clubs.
Advertising
Some of the funniest adverts to date have been advertising Budweiser. This shows that the person who drinks Budweiser is a person with a sense of humour, because some of them have been rude, and most of the time, and man (because the adverts either feature things that appeal to men, e.g. women, and also things that most men will go through i.e. the Best Man speech at a wedding).
The most well known advert, and probably one of the strangest to date, have been the adverts with the chameleons who blurt out one syllable from the word ‘Budweiser’. Whether the chameleons signify anything, (such as the fact that Budweiser is changing?) is unknown, but the adverts were well remembered because of there zaniness, and radical way of advertising a product like Budweiser, (maybe it’s to say that the product is different to other beers?). It stood out from many other adverts, so it indefinitely helped to sell the beer.
The latest TV advert, which is advertising the new ‘Born on Date’ feature, is set in a nightclub, with lots of flashing lights and loud music. This is used to attract a younger audience, who would be more likely to remember an advert, which catches their attention. The audience that the advert wants to capture is a young man or woman who is likely to go to clubs, like the one featured in the advert, ie. 18-30.
Public Relations
Budweiser is a very good company about giving stuff away. As part of their sponsorship for the Oxfordshire football club of Bicester F.C., they provided kits, shoes, and did a Budweiser Man of the Match award each game.
For their sponsorship to the V Festival, as mentioned earlier, they sold all Budweiser beers for only £1. And at the Glastonbury festival, they were the ones who lined up all the acts to perform at the show, a very important part of the show. Budweiser is also the sponsor of Manchester United football club, and for this Budweiser will have exclusive beer-pouring rights at Man United, receive on-field, in-stadium and concourse signage and have the right to use the official marks and logos of the club in advertising, promotions and packaging.
Budweiser also organised charity events, such as a Charity Baseball match, which was to raise money for local charities and organisations in the state of Kentucky, in memorial of Sam McQuade, who started the event up years ago.
All these charity and sponsorship gestures have given Budweiser a lot of good publicity. Most of events are sports, so it shows that even when doing charity work, it still is aimed at the same people who Budweiser advertises to.
PLACE
Budweiser is sold in many different forms, so it is difficult to say what type of distribution method is used. It can be sold in cans, multi-packs, kegs, bottles, from the tap at a pub, etc. The method that it is sold with by the shops or supermarkets would be form the producer, tom the shop/supermarket and then on to the retailer. It can also be sold via a wholesaler to a shop, which means that the price goes up 3 times. When sold in a pub, it could even be sent straight from the producer to the pub.
The sale of Budweiser takes place in lots of different outlets, such as pubs, supermarkets, alcohol stores, normal shops, and over the Internet. This means that it can cost a lot to supply it in all the ways that they do. But it also means that they may sell more, because some people are only able to buy it in one way, and if people can’t buy Budweiser in a way that they would like to, they Budweiser won’t make as much money as they could have.
PRICE
As I have mentioned before, Budweiser is sold in a number of ways, so for the Price part of this study, I will look only at the price of their most popular amount sold, which is the 4-pack of 440ml cans. For a 4-pack, Budweiser uses competitor pricing, which involves giving a price similar to the competitors, psychological pricing, which is uses prices to nearest whole number e.g. £12.99. They also use promotional pricing, which is where the company offers free amounts such as 25% extra free, or Buy One Get One Free.
I think that these types of prices are used so that Budweiser is bought more than the competitors. Even if the price of Budweiser is only a few pence cheaper, people tend to buy it rather than another brand, and vice versa, this is because they are always after a bargain, and companies always have to make their prices cheaper than their other competitors to win the competition.
