Budweiser was introduced in 1876 when company founder Adolphus Busch set out to create the United States' first truly national beer brand – brewed to be universally popular and transcend regional tastes — so it's no doubt still smarting from Bloomberg Businessweek's cover story on "The Plot to Destroy America's Beer" (sample quote: "Many people in the U.S. aren’t thrilled that a foreign company now owns Budweiser, America’s beer").

Anheuser Busch InBev is busy with another challenge. Bud's twelve American brewmasters just wrapped the Project 12 Beer contest, for which they "were challenged with coming up with a distinctive beer recipe worthy of the Budweiser name." The three winning beers, named for the zipcodes in which they were developed (Los Angeles, St. Louis and Williamsburg, Virginia), are now rolling out across the U.S. on a limited basis in a 12-bottle package.

The project, which launched in the spring, is described by AB InBev as the biggest focus group in the brand's history, "maybe even beer history," thanks to a summer-long sampling program that invited the public to vote for their favorite brew — re-engaging beer-drinkers with the brand and inspiring its brewmasters. The bigger challenge now, of course, is building on that momentum. That's why Budweiser is spinning one of the Project 12 brews into a new beer called Black Crown.Continue reading...

AB InBev sees continuing market-share losses by Budweiser in U.S.

Weather Channel hopes to maintain Sandy ad dollars.

Hyundai and Kia take hits on EPA mileage claims.

Amazon gets major push-back from traditional booksellers.

Best Buy may be facing existential questions soon.

Boeing to get big helicopter order from India.Continue reading...

Timed to tonight's townhall debate with CNN's Candy Crowley moderating, the Obama presidential election campaign released this commercial starring Jay-Z, titled "The Power of Our Voice." That voice, as described by the campaign:

Gotta vote? Go here: http://OFA.BO/7WVtHh

Jay-Z shares why it is important to exercise your right to vote and how President Obama represents the power of our voice. 

As Jay-Z shares:

"For so long, there was this voice that was silenced out there as far as exercising your right to vote. I think it was a voice that was silent because people had lost hope. They didn't believe that their voice mattered or counted."

"Now people are exercising their right, and you are starting to see the power of our vote. He made it mean something for the first time for a lot of people."

So is "Gotta vote?" the new "Got milk?" And why is it a question instead of a call to action — "Yes, you've got to vote!" 

The commercial highlights Obama's cameo-by-video during the performer's Bud Light-sponsored Made in America Festival concert, which took place last month in Philadelphia, where the Brooklyn Nets co-owner was emblazoned with logos for the team.

There's also an iPhone hoisted (by Beyonce - watch for the blue nail polish - at the :34 mark), and of course the Obama-Biden logo at the end.

With little to gain and a lot to lose, playing politics is something brands generally do from a position of neutrality ("7-Election"), low-brow humor (Gas-X's "Gas Crisis") or outright mocking of the system (Etch A Sketch; Reebok's 2003 Terry Tate candidacy). So when the Most Interesting Man in the World chose to host a fundraising event for President Barack Obama, Dos Equis's parent Heineken USA was understandably vexed, forced into one of those frustrating statements all brands hate to make that include the words "views are strictly his own, and do not represent."

But maybe Dos Equis — and Heineken — should play to their brand strengths. According to a recent study, both brands' drinkers trend Democratic, with the former rated the most popular beer amongst lefties. So when viewers drunkenly yell at the TV during the first 2012 presidential debate on Wednesday, chances are they will do so with very partisan bottles in hand.Continue reading...

On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last year, a few brands saw an opportunity to show the world that they will never forget and they’ve got good hearts so next time you want something, think of them. 

Hooters Girls smiled and informed us of their feelings. Best Buy sponsored good deeds in various cities across the land. NASCAR drivers and their fans had a moment of silence from laps 9 to 11 in Richmond, Virginia. Ten years ago, Budweiser had set a very high bar for 9/11 tie-ins. Its reverent 2002 Super Bowl commercial, which aired only once on broadcast television but has been seen more than six million times on YouTube since, certainly got the company a lot of notice at the time.

It can be risky to link your brand to a tragedy, of course. You don’t want to appear self-serving but you still want to show empathy, and for consumers to be left with the idea that what you did was a fitting tribute. And marketers hope the tribute is so fitting that consumers will remember their company’s name the next time the wallet is pulled out.Continue reading...

Are you ready for some football? Big brands surely are. The National Football League may be a marketing and TV-programing juggernaut, but it is carrying more weight for more major brands than ever.

Take auto advertisers, for instance. Despite football telecasts that already were slated to be crowded with other car brands, Audi decided to use tonight's kickoff game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys for the marketing launch of its crucial new 2013 S Models. These performance nameplates (S6, S7 and S8) and the "S" brand are fundamental for Audi to move to the next phase of its positioning in the U.S. market, as a provider of exciting, luxurious and well-designed automobiles.

And so the NFL gets the call tonight to host the first Audi ad under its new tagline, "Heighten Every Moment," featuring the Audi S8. The 60-second spot (watch it above) will run in the first break after kickoff. Audi also announced that it will appear in the Super Bowl game in February, its sixth consecutive advertising appearance in the big game.Continue reading...

Jay-Z may only own a smidgen of the NBA’s new Brooklyn Nets team and the rusty-looking arena that was just built for them to play in, but he’s definitely playing his role to the hilt. The rapper supposedly helped design the team’s logo and pick the color scheme and sold out a slew of shows at their Barclays Center home.

And now, he and his wife, Beyoncé, are continuing to spread their influence for the Nets wherever they go — including, over Labor Day Weekend weekend, in Philadelphia for the Budweiser-sponsored Made In America festival, a music festival that Jay-Z had organized and headlined.Continue reading...

Major League Bseball today released a new public affairs campaign, titled Baseball Believes, featuring a pair of amusing spots starring Steve Carell, Ken Jeong & Colin Hanks re-creating "signature moments in baseball history that led fans across the nation to believe that anything was possible." (Watch the longer version below.)

According to MLB's press release, the campaign was filmed at Boston's historic Fenway Park as part of a longstanding collaboration between Major League Baseball, its 30 Clubs and Stand Up To Cancer — a non-profit initiative of the Entertainment Industry Foundation that rang the opening bell at the NYSE this morning.Continue reading...