MILWAUKEE — Sports world, this Bud’s still for you.
Anheuser-Busch executives said Thursday that the beermaker will maintain its high level of sports marketing and sponsorship under new owner InBev. In fact, they said, spending could increase.
“There’s nothing at all for those of us that are at the pulse of all this to suggest that our sports are cutting back at all,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch.
Sports marketing accounts for two-thirds of Anheuser-Busch’s overall marketing, but InBev’s reputation as a cost-cutter had raised speculation that the huge budget could get the ax. InBev SA, the maker of brands such as Stella Artois and Beck’s, solidified its $52 billion takeover of the St. Louis-based brewer earlier this week. The company has said it has plans to make Budweiser and Bud Light into worldwide icons like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Carlos Brito, chief executive of the Belgian brewer, has said he knows that his new company’s ability to reach consumers through sports is one of the reasons it’s such an attractive brand, and added that there wouldn’t be cuts.
Ponturo and Dave Peacock, vice president for marketing, emphasized that Thursday and said spending could in fact go up. Of course, Anheuser-Busch had initially resisted the takeover, so now the company could be trying to show it can play ball with the new owners.
Ratings for events such as this week’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game are up, especially with men ages 21 to 34, Ponturo said. So they’re not going to change what works.
“The beer consumer totally surrounds himself with sports. It’s emotional; there’s a connection. It’s local. It’s passionate,” he said.
To many, Anheuser-Busch and its Budweiser and Bud Light brands are synonymous with sports. That’s because the image has been built heavily on marketing.
Think Super Bowl, and images of Clydesdale horses and chants of “I love you, man” fill your head.
Ponturo declined to say exactly how much the company spends on marketing, but industry estimates are that Anheuser spent $378 million in the U.S. on marketing last year. That’s far above the nation’s second- and third-largest brewers, Miller Brewing and Molson Coors, which began their joint venture in the U.S., MillerCoors, this month.
In the games
Anheuser-Busch, through its various brands, has sponsorship agreements across a variety of sports:
•2008 Olympics
•National Football League, including the Super Bowl telecast through 2012
•College football’s Bowl Championship Series through 2010
•Baseball’s major leagues and 26 teams
•National Basketball Association and 26 teams
•PGA, LPGA and Champions tours as well as individual golfers including Sergio Garcia and Natalie Gulbis
•NHL and 21 teams
•Horse racing’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks stakes races, as well as Churchill Downs racetrack
•NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race, as well as Daytona Speedway, as well as driver Kasey Kahne (above) and Fox network coverage through 2010
•Mixed martial arts
