Budweiser is taking a lesson from Donald Trump — make the message as simple as possible and don’t overestimate your audience. Not that your audience isn’t smart — plenty of super-smart Bud drinkers and Trump supporters are out there — it’s just, you know, why complicate things? So Trump promises to make America great again — specifics be damned. And Budweiser changes its name for the summer — to “America.” Pandering, sure. Effective. Bet on it. Wait till Bud — sorry, America — starts calling Miller the Paul Ryan of beers.
There are lots of reasons for the savvy move. Focus groups loved the new logo. Everyone wants to hold America in his or her hand. Besides, Budweiser is probably getting a little homesick. It’s been eight years since the quintessentially American brewer got global when Belgian giant InBev swallowed it whole. The new company, ABInBev has headquarters in Leuven, Belgium and Sao Paulo, Brazil — though Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch still practices some “beechwood aging” in St. Louis, Missouri. Bud’s plan is just a summer-long affair. It’s an experiment in identity — same sort of experiment thousands of young adults drinking America at the beach will try this year. If only they had the focus group results ahead of time…
