Bud light has long used silly ads and frat-boyish humor to stand out from the pack of lagers on store shelves, but now the company is stepping up its game with a new campaign that turns the boring experience of waiting on hold into a small dance party. In a 30-second ad, actor Miles Teller joins his wife Keleigh Sperry while they try to get help with a problem, and as soon as the music starts to play, the duo kicks off a dance party, cracking open some cans of Bud light in the process. The ad will air during the Super Bowl, but it has already been gaining attention on social media.
The new Bud light campaign will be an attempt to appeal to younger consumers, a demographic that is increasingly shifting away from the brand. Its parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is spending heavily on ads targeting this group as it struggles to attract millennials and Generation Z consumers, who are less interested in beer drinking than their older counterparts. Heinerscheid hopes to bring the young consumers back to Bud light by making it seem more approachable, and she also wants to reposition the brand as a more mainstream choice among craft beers, hard seltzers, spirits, and ciders.
InBev has struggled to make a dent in the American market, and Bud light’s sales have dropped in recent weeks. Last week, the company’s US sales dropped 21% compared with the same period last year. The declines came as a result of the controversy over the company’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who posted an Instagram video of herself displaying cans of Bud light featuring her face. The post prompted calls for a boycott from conservative celebrities and politicians, including singer Kid Rock, who posted a video of himself wearing a MAGA hat and shooting a gun at cases of the beer.
A satirical website published a fake story that claimed Anheuser-Busch had fired the entire marketing team responsible for the partnership with Mulvaney, and it was widely shared on social media. Anheuser-Busch InBev denied that it had fired anyone over the ad, but the company said its marketing budget would be significantly increased this year as it tries to revive sales.
Bud light is rated as a 14 on Comparably’s Net Promoter Score, with 53% of customers rating the company as Promoters, 8% as Passives, and 39% as Detractors. Those who rate the company highly are considered Promoters, meaning they are likely to recommend Bud light to friends and family. Those who rate it poorly are called Detractors, and they are likely to avoid the brand or discourage others from using it. Despite the negative publicity, InBev is determined to keep pushing Bud light into the mainstream and attract new customers. It has even started offering Bud light to wholesale distributors for free in an effort to boost sales. Bud light customer service