Writer Charles Farrar Browne, aka Artemus Ward, noted, “We all can’t be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots.” When he wrote that he was, of course, talking about people – not products. But certain brands think it’s a philosophy worth leveraging, and sometimes it is.
Some are very successful at it because they have an authentic foundation for making a claim to patriotism. Think “Jeep” or “Coca-Cola.” Others – and there are lots of them – think they can just wrap themselves in the flag and that will do it! The less successful of them, the unsubtle ones, are enough to drive you to drink! Maybe a beer would help. Or a number of beers.
There are lots of beers out there. That includes Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois and 200 other brands, aka Belgium-based, mega-brewer InBev. They haven’t been doing so well when it comes to their Budweiser brand, and we’d have to agree.
Of the critical drivers of beer loyalty that are responsible for these consumer engagement levels, we can confidently tell you that a craft-like image and credible authenticity are not at the bottom of the list. They’re waaay at the top.
But Budweiser is at the bottom of the list. When it comes to Regular beers and Light beers (where it ranks 8th, after Amstel and Michelob). So Budweiser, aka Anheuser-Busch, unable to meet the high expectations beer drinkers hold for craft-like beers and a sense of authenticity, initiated a re-branding program. They’re replacing the Budweiser logo with the name “America” on its 12-ounce cans and bottles, which still doesn’t make it the best beer in America.
The reason they’re doing that? Well, according to Ricardo Marques, Budweiser VP, "We are embarking on what should be the most patriotic summer that this generation has ever seen,” which sounds good but raises questions: “What generation?” and “Why would anyone who wasn’t actually drunk believe that?” Oh, and “Are you so desperate that you’d throw away billions already invested in the brand – even one at the bottom of the list – and confuse shoppers just to try to co-opt the value of “patriotism”?
A partial answer to those questions is the name change – besides concealing and/or camouflaging the true origin and source of an apparently less-than-loved brew – is, according to Budweiser, aka InBev, “to inspire drinkers to celebrate America and Budweiser's shared values of freedom and authenticity.” You can believe that or not! Maybe 2 or 9 beers would help.
Note to InBev: Leveraging the value of “patriotism” may have sounded good at the pitch meeting and probably made you feel all warm inside, but Budweiser hasn’t shown up on our annual “Most Patriotic Brands” list for years now. Even back when a foreign company didn’t own you. No matter how you many flags, eagles, and slogans, you slap on the can, saying it and actually being it are two, entirely different things. That’s especially true about emotional values like “Patriotism.” Oh, which is why Sam Adams is at the top of the list. Just saying.
The cans of “patriotic” brew were introduced on May 23rd and will be available through the November election. Coincidence? You be the judge.
On another nationalism front, Donald Trump took credit for the beer’s rebranding. When asked by Fox and Friends if he thought his slogan “Make America Great Again” inspired the name change, Mr. Trump replied, “I think so, they’re so impressed with what our country will become that they decided to do this before the fact.” As one of the few, successful Human Brands, we think Mr. Trump should have ducked that one.
But make of all that what you will. And the name change. We suspect Budweiser, we mean, America, would do anything that will get consumers to stand up and salute. Funny, that sounds a lot like this year’s presidential candidates too.
The 2016 National Hockey League Stanley Cup playoffs began April 13th and 61 days later the Pittsburgh Penguins took both the Stanley Cup and now the #1 spot in the Brand Keys 2016 Sports Fan Loyalty Index.
In the finals, the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks four games to two, only the second time in 46 years that no Canadian-based team qualified for the NHL post season. The Washington Capitals made the playoffs as the winners of the President’s Trophy, awarded to the team with the most points scored during the regular season, which is terrific, although we believe team loyalty represents the ultimate trophy for any sports marketer.
How well a team does. As noted, a bit more important for professional hockey.
How well they play as a team and do fans actually attend games to root for their home team.
Are any players particularly respected and admired?
Has the game and team become part of fans’ and community rituals, institutions and beliefs?
Win-loss ratios may be the only thing when it comes to making the playoffs, and a great win-loss ratios can contribute up to a 20% bump in a team’s loyalty. But to be fair to NHL fans, loyalty in professional hockey is a little different than other major league sports. Winning contributes more to loyalty for the NHL – about 10% more for several reasons: first, the sport moves faster than the others, so more attention is necessarily paid to the Pure Entertainment driver wherein wins and losses reside. Also the scores are much closer in hockey.
For the NHL, the Authenticity driver correlates very, very highly to at-home attendance figures, and makes a slightly higher contribution to engagement and loyalty than it does for the NFL, MLB, or the NBA.
And sure, hockey fans have their favorite players, but the protective equipment makes instantaneous identification of individual players difficult, so Fan Bonding makes a slightly smaller contribution in the case of this sport.
Of the four major league sports that Brand Keys tracks in its’ Sports Fan Loyalty Index, the National Hockey League is #4 again this year. The National Football League is currently 1st followed by Major League Baseball, with the National Basketball Association in 3rd place.
Overall team rankings – no matter which league – are based on predictive engagement metrics and correlate with viewership and licensed merchandise sales and, in the case of hockey, attendance. And, since rankings can be influenced depending upon how different loyalty drivers are managed, it’s critical that NHL team marketers act as strategically off the ice as players do on the ice.
It was Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One” and the leading point-scorer in NHL history, who noted that a good hockey player plays where the puck is; a great player plays to where the puck is going to be. Great sports marketers know that same maxim can be applied to fan loyalty too.
Particularly if you have the right metrics in place.