Part of an article is below. I usually refuse 'bad' beer. Have never purchased one. Didn't start drinking beer until 2003 because all I knew when I was young was 'bad' beer. Discovered BBC beer with Rick and Jeff UL trips and have been hooked ever since on craft beers. (Of course I also drink Brown-Forman products.) When out of town, we search for brewpubs as our first restaurant choice(s).
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
Anheuser-Busch— whose Budweiser brand sales and image have taken a serious licking — today will announce plans to push free beer and a hipper Bud image to younger beer drinkers over the next several weeks.
To appeal to the under-30 set that has ignored the brand — but is a prime consumer group for beer — Budweiser will unleash its biggest-ever national free-sample effort in trendy bars and eateries. The campaign begins Monday, with the slogan "Grab some Buds."
The hype culminates on Sept. 29, when the brand hosts the "Budweiser National Happy Hour," a bid by Bud to nudge folks to at least try a free brewski. The free samples for those 21 and up range from 6 ounces to 12 ounces, depending on state and local At issue: a brand that's lost mojo. Bud unit sales were down 9% last year and are down the same this year, says Beverage Marketing Corp. Beer drinkers have lost loyalty to Bud for the past seven years, research firm Brand Keys reports. Bud's ranking among national product brands slipped from 16th in 2003 to 220th in 2010.
Budweiser ranks 30th on Interbrand's 2010 list of most valuable global brands — the same as 2009.
The promotion comes as upscale consumers are turning to craft beers, the price-conscious are trading down, and others switched to light beers. "It's a triple whammy," says Michael Bellas, CEO at Beverage Marketing.
Executives at Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Belgium-based Anheuser–Busch InBev, insist they can reignite interest from younger drinkers with an image upgrade and a reintroduction via sampling.
