As a brand strategist, I’m always looking for the unusual. Because, to be noticed, you must be different and better than your competition. It’s (almost) that simple. So what’s the strategy behind the Nick Mangold-led Bud Light Seltzer TV spots?
Budweiser (owned by AB InBev) enters the billion-dollar market, with its five-fold growth in the last few years. (Although some recent reports suggest the seltzer market is waning.) It makes sense for Bud to capture some market share of a new beverage sector.
But like this?
Bud Light Seltzer embarrassed by the brand?
Think of the strangeness of this ad. Mangold, a former New York Jets center, holds two fingers over the name Bud Light. Proving to would-be drinkers that this is not beer.
You think drinkers wouldn’t understand that? It says “hard seltzer” right there. Does AB InBev think the Bud Light brand weakens the pitch?
In a way, yes.
In truth, Bud thinks the Bud Light lacks brand permission to be a hard seltzer. That it’s strictly a beer brand and doesn’t have permission to be another kind of alcoholic beverage. It’s such an odd approach.
But if Budweiser thinks it lacks brand permission, why put the Bud Light name on it at all?
The hard seltzer market
White Claw and Truly own most of the market share in the hard seltzer market. White Claw is owned by Mark Anthony’s (think Mike’s Hard Lemonade) and Boston Beer of Samuel Adams fame owns Truly. Boston didn’t name its hard seltzer Samuel Adams Seltzer.
So why Bud Light Seltzer? Why not give it a whole new brand name like Truly?
Right now, Bud Light talks out both sides of its mouth. No, we now we don’t have permission so Mangold covers the Bud Light name. But you know, Bud Light does make this hard seltzer.
How confusing is that? As confused as Bud Light is about its own brand.
Think of the message
Audiences only take away one message from any form of marketing. We are overwhelmed with thousands of marketing messages each day. And we instinctively weed out the ones that don’t matter to us.
Therefore, clarity is of the upmost importance. Confusion remains the enemy.
With that in mind, what’s the main takeaway for barely-paying-attention audiences from the Bud Light Seltzer ads?
That Bud Light doesn’t know its own brand.
Corona, a beer brand that truly understands its brand, has launched its own seltzer. But it isn’t confused by the brand meaning. In fact, the seltzer fits perfectly into the Corona brand.
The real reason for the Bud Light Seltzer confusion is that Bud Light doesn’t know what its brand means. If it did, it’d make Bud Light the hero. Not Mangold’s taped fingers. It’d take the brand meaning of Bud Light and let it form the messaging for the seltzer.
The strangest TV ad on the air today remains confusing because Bud Light remains confused about its own brand meaning. Maybe that’s not so strange after all.