Maker's Mark hopes it has managed to avoid a New Coke-style disaster by reversing its widely-scorned decision (which was revealed in a Bloomberg Businessweek article) to dilute its iconic bourbon with water. Just days after his initial decision to cut the proof of Maker's Mark from 90 to 84, CEO Bill Samuels Jr. realized the error of his ways, turned tail and just hoped that the brand hadn't sustained any permanent damage.

On Sunday, Feb. 17th, the company announced on Facebook that it had surrendered to the collective will of thousands of bourbon drinkers expressed over the last several days after Maker's Mark tried to extend tightening supplies of its flagship spirit by adding extra water that, it said, didn't affect the taste. Fans, however, rose up on social media and argued that the move diluted the brand, too.

"They've told us that they would rather deal with the occasional supply shortage than have us change their whiskey," Samuels Jr., son of the founder of Maker's Mark, told USA Today.

Effective Monday, supported with a new cover image on its Facebook page (with the tagline "You spoke. We listened. Here's proof"), every bottle coming out of the Loretto, Ky.-based brand owned by Beam Inc. is reverting to its historic 45-percent-alcohol content.Continue reading...

While many brands paid as much as $4 million to air a Super Bowl ad, one figured out a way to get a lot of attention for much less.

Old Milwaukee aired an ad during the game featuring mustachioed comedian Will Ferrell in an extended kiss with a fellow bus passenger — but only in three tiny markets: Sherman, Tex.; Ardmore, Okla., and Glendive, Mont.

It wasn't immediately clear what the residents of those locales thought of "their" Super Bowl spot. But given its high-profile smoocher, it has resulted in the brewer getting a decent amount of attention compared to the brands that shelled out big bucks to have their ad seen by the huge Super Bowl viewing audience. USA Today, Yahoo!, and other highly watched media outlets had written about the Ferrell spot. 

Ferrell’s ad had received more than 1.5 million YouTube views by midday Tuesday, and seemed to be posted online only by fans of the ad itself. (Budweiser's popular Super Bowl ad featuring the adventures of a young Clydesdale had received more than 9 million by that point, but spent a comparative fortune.)Continue reading...

Budweiser has unveiled its full Super Bowl ad — a rare move for the brand — ahead of Game Day on Sunday.

Titled "The Clydesdales: Brotherhood," the spot heralds the return of Bud's iconic horses, and features its youngest member, who was a week old during the commercial's shoot at the brand's Grant Farm stables.

The spot also promotes a Twitter hashtag, as more Game Day ads will feature this year: #Clydesdales. Watch below.Continue reading...

For more than a century, there’s been a bar fight going on between the world’s biggest brewer, AB InBev (and all its predecessors) and Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar NP. Both claim they should have the rights to the name “Bud” in Europe. 

The most recent winner is AB InBev after the EU General Court in Luxembourg “rejected Budvar’s appeal of AB InBev’s right to the EU trademark because the Czech company presented insufficient proof of the existing use of the name in some European countries,” Bloomberg reports.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV claims to have been using the Bud name since 1876. Budvar did not exist until 19 years later. AB InBev put in an application for the trademark in July 1996 and, according to the court, Budvar couldn’t show that it had used the term across Europe before then.Continue reading...

Meet Drew Barrymore, the expanding solo retail brand.

The 37-year-old actress, who has spent her lifetime performing, announced this week that she has undertaken lines of wine and cosmetics.

"I just want to do the things that you actually do in life, which is drink wine and play with makeup," she told OK! magazine in an interview posted Thursday. "It took years... to make both of these brands."

Barrymore Wine, which launched itself with a Pinot Grigio, was created to honor her family, she said on the label's website.  In promotional copy highlighted by Buzzfeed, she pokes fun at "Real Housewives of New York" star Ramona Singer, who has also launched a Pinot Grigio: “Move over Ramona Singer, you’re so yesterday’s news… let the “Real” Stars, not reality stars, show you how to drink Pinot Grigio!”Continue reading...

With the debris settled after the latest James Bond success, it seems that all of the bellyaching about Heineken's role in the film was about nothing. Daniel Craig as Bond reclines and sips a green bottle here and there, the label never visible. Without the ruckus surrounding Heineken's tie-in, none would be the wiser. Indeed, without the ruckus, movie reviewing icon Roger Ebert never would have known what brand to mention when he called Bond a Heineken sell-out. But then the ruckus was the point. A $45 million point that backfired on Heineken.

Just one of the slaps in the face to Heineken from Skyfall's filmmakers came in the form of Macallan whisky, which is poured throughout the film by Bond villains and M alike. At one point, a bottle of "50-year old Macallan" (£1,400.00) is even identified Bond's "favorite drink." Macallan, by the way, paid nothing for the honor.Continue reading...

When you're a lifestyle brand and not just the logo on some commodity product, you've got to meet and ideally exceed customer expectations. In three arenas around the world, Starbucks is confronting both the challenges and the opportunities in having customer bases that expect more out of it than they do other brands.

In its home turf of Seattle, in addition to Washington, D.C., Orange County, CA and a handful of other locations around the United States, Starbucks finally is addressing customer expressions of a desire for the chain to offer a broader menu than mainly coffee, tea and pastries — and that entails Starbucks creating an evening ambience to match its achievements with other day parts.

A potential answer is Starbucks Evenings, a test concept that has been quietly piloted over the past year. After 4pm daily in these locations, the store flips to a menu offering a selection of wines, beers, various small plates (such as truffle mac and cheese), salads (baby arugula with fresh basil and pickled beets, anyone?), sandwiches (such as fire grilled chicken with goat cheese) and even desserts.Continue reading...

Bacardi turned 150 years old this year and after a slew of celebrations in the past 12 months that have surely left its 6,000 employees a bit hungover from time to time, the company threw one more party last week. This one commemorated the creation and burial of a Bacardi time capsule that will be opened in 50 years.

So what’s in the futuristic stainless-steel capsule that has been registered with the international Time Capsule Society and stands six feet long and is a foot wide? What will the great citizens of our planet unearth in 50 years? Well, there’s a “photograph of the remarkable gathering of nearly 500 members of the Bacardi family, representing eight generations, captured in a single moment encircling the iconic Bacardi bat logo at the family’s 150th anniversary party in Puerto Rico,” a press release states,” along with a “commemorative medal honoring Bacardi rum as the ‘World’s Most Awarded Spirit,’ an honor achieved with nearly 600 awards for great taste, quality and innovation.”Continue reading...