The Bud Light Boycott is celebrating four months of separating #woke from #working class America, and while the initial impact looked impressive, what – if any – have been the long-term effects? It didn’t even make InBev, the parent company, blink, but in the US, AB’s numbers have suffered,
Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. revenue plunged by 10.5 percent year-over-year, “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light,” according to the second-quarter corporate earnings data. Overall, revenue in North America declined by $395 million during the three-month period compared with the same time a year ago.
Operating profit also took a hit in North America, with two-thirds of the decline in profits being caused by market share performance. Productivity loss, marketing investments, and support efforts for wholesalers also contributed to the decline.
Not great, and some are suggesting they’ll never get that Blight volume back, but it isn’t harming AB globally.
In the global market, Anheuser-Busch performed much better.
The company reported a year-over-year worldwide revenue increase of 7.2 percent to $15.1 billion, buoyed by Corona and Stella Artois sales. Its organic growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was 5 percent, topping the consensus estimate of 0.4 percent.
Anheuser-Busch noted that sales-to-retailers (STRs) fell by 14 percent, underperforming in the industry mainly due to the volume decrease in Bud Light. However, this was offset by the significant growth of its “mainstream portfolio” in Colombia and South Africa. In addition, China lifted the company’s second-quarter performance, as regional volumes surged 11 percent.
It’s not a total wash. “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary is going to be using the lesson of Mulvaney and Bud Light as part of his business course.
This is an extraordinary case that I’ll be teaching in business schools across America this fall. To lose 25% of the market share has never been achieved.
We’re still talking about this situation months later, and they continue to lose share! pic.twitter.com/P4pDSN1lta
— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) July 31, 2023
Something about knowing your customer base before reaching out into uncharted rainbow waters – or anything that might crack the foundation of your brand and topple it off a cliff.
Does anyone know if the value of llamas has declined since Dylan Mulvaney pranced off to Peru?
