One of the events most affecting the people of St. Louis in 2008 was the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev. It’s too early to know exactly what the impact on the region will be, but we can expect it to be somewhere between significant and profound.*

I was a video producer/project manager in a creative subsidiary for the beer company for about twelve years (until 2003). Those were heady times, when market share was rising, new products were being introduced, their international reach was expanding, and the company (with their ad agencies) were producing ad campaigns that became cultural icons (Spuds McKenzie, “Yes I am,” “I love you, man,” Frank and Louie, “Whassup?” and the classic “This Bud’s for You”). And they made the most of their ongoing icons, most notably the Clydesdales.

Working for one of the world’s great marketers let me observe what types of things they did that worked really well, and a few that didn’t (Dewey Stevens, Zeltzer Seltzer, and, in my humble opinion, getting rid of the Cardinals). In a nutshell, here are some of the things I think they did really well that can be generalized for other businesses.

Start with a quality product. They believed in producing a consistent, quality product and I saw the degree to which they were willing to make that commitment. Marketing a really good product is a lot easier than a mediocre or poor one. It’s hard to list competitive advantages if you don’t have any.

Make use of employees as ambassadors. You could probably ask anyone that worked for the company the attributes of Budweiser, and the employee could rattle them off. A-B knew the value of employees as marketers and made good use of that resource. They would give employees new products as part of a monthly beer allotment so that employees could sample them, and pass samples on to friends.

During a time when they were defending Budweiser’s market share, they gave each employee 25 bucks to buy Bud’s for friends, colleagues and perfect strangers. Up the sampling rate and create good will. (People seem to like free beer beyond its actual market value. I don’t know why.)

Played up competitive advantages well. An example: because of their efficient network of distributors and the strategic location of their breweries, they could deliver beer quickly and efficiently. This allowed them to market the freshness of their beer, and thus the Born On date was, um, born. To emphasize this, they created a series of special promotions offering select retailers (and in some cases entire sports stadiums of drinkers) beer packaged within 24 hours.

Aggressively marketed at every level. The brewery of course, was known for their Superbowl ads, flashy sponsorships, even a blimp or two. But they also paid attention to marketing at a grass roots level, and had a number of programs to encourage the driver-salesmen, who were often the main contact between the wholesaler and the retailer, to increase shelf space, show point-of-sale materials, hang neons, get key products on tap, and encourage sampling of new products.

Not every company can be an Anheuser-Busch. But they all can look at the principles that great marketers use, and use those same principles to market products and services more effectively, especially in tough times when marketing budgets become tight.

Smart marketers look to use innovative ways to push their products – social media and word-of-mouth marketing for instance. TVG helps our clients find new and cost-effective ways to build your brand and your reputation.

* I have to say that one of their initial changes, the new AB InBev logo, is a disaster. Neither traditional nor contemporary, it looks to me like it was designed by a second year graphic arts major – no offense meant to second year graphic arts majors. Here are some other local St. Louis opinions about the new logo.