‘The Customer Will Always Be at The Center of Everything We Do’: After a Year of Controversy, Bud Light Second Quarter Earnings Call Hints Towards a Promising Comeback
Bottles of Bud Light beer sit on a shelf at a grocery store. (Photo: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
Bud Light, the controversy-filled beer brand, had a second-quarter earnings call that revealed some interesting key points about the brand according to Wednesday’s article in The Spirits Business. Despite the fact that those little blue cans have been boycotted and shot at by country music stars, numbers don’t lie. As far as the court of public opinion goes — Bud Light may just be due for a comeback.
“We have actively engaged with over 17,000 consumers since April, and there are a few clear insights. First, most consumers surveyed are favorable toward the Bud Light brand and approximately 80% are favorable or neutral. The consumer will always be at the center of everything we do,” claimed Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
Though revenue declined by 10.5% in the United States, consumers revealed to the brand in a survey that they “wanted to enjoy their beer without a debate.”
Key feedback included the brand’s clientele wanted “Bud Light to focus on beer,” and “concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as NFL, Folds of Honor and Music,” according to a transcript of the call published by The Motley Fool.
Doukeris revealed that even though Bud Light’s beer industry shares declined to 36.9% this quarter, it appears to have stabilized due to some of the brand’s “long-term strategic choices.”
The “strategic choices,” were not mentioned by Doukeris — but he may have been alluding to the brand’s choice to lay off 400 employees at the end of July.
Most of the employees laid off operated within corporate positions, more specifically within the brand’s marketing departments in U.S. major offices like New York and Los Angeles.
Bud Light’s turbulent year began after the beer brand chose to partner with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer in April. The partnership received backlash from conservatives and multiple facilities received bomb threats.
The flames of controversy were further stoked when Bud Light’s Vice President of Marketing described Bud Light’s clientele as “fratty,” and “out of touch,” according to The New York Post.
This resulted in an all-out culture war and a conservative-led boycott that proved to be successful. Bud Light was dethroned to Modelo as America’s most popular beer in June.
Yet Doukeris appears unphased and even optimistic about the future.
“We are taking the feedback and working hard toward our consumers’ business every day across the world,” he concluded.
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