torrid said:

---

SIAP, a behind-the-scenes look at A-B's response to the marketing crisis.

---

MOAR Please

Very sad.

Gender dysphoria pioneer work under investigation for publishing 'rapid-onset' study of kids | Just The News https://t.co/F7k6iToAjO

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) May 15, 2023

Maybe she will be the new bud light marketing VP.

Tanya - how are sales at your bar?

CS78 said:

---

23% drop in sales. I don't believe that at all. More like 75%. They'll be really lucky if its only 23% in five years. Would anyone be surprised to find out later that they cooked the books to hide the damage?

---

That would/should precipitate a major lawsuit by the stockholders.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

CS78 said:

---

23% drop in sales. I don't believe that at all. More like 75%. They'll be really lucky if its only 23% in five years. Would anyone be surprised to find out later that they cooked the books to hide the damage?

---

A comment was buried in the Q1 Conference Call that stands out. They're comparing sales numbers YoY. BUT BUT BUT they've had a price hike since last year that bolstered "sales" and improved margins.

So yes, sales volume would be down by greater than 23%.

---

So get rid of the crazy inflation, and it's a lot higher than 23%.

Figures don't lie, liars just figure!

richardag said:

---

CS78 said:

---

23% drop in sales. I don't believe that at all. More like 75%. They'll be really lucky if its only 23% in five years. Would anyone be surprised to find out later that they cooked the books to hide the damage?

---

That would/should precipitate a major lawsuit by the stockholders.

---

They are trying to hide the size of the problem by giving away product at this point.

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do.

---

Good point. Three tiered system on alcohol sales. Which is why the direct cashback is even more effective. Kroger can't get on their call and say, 'Bud Lite is down bad guys' if Kroger's retail numbers look fine while InBev's marketing budget is wholly sucked up by free beer.

But for InBev, if they can only report sales to distributors they've got less places to hide then. If Silver Eagle took 30% less deliveries in Q2, thats all folks.

I'm sure InBev will play games with distributors to get them to take on extra inventory.

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

---

How do they get away with doing a $20 rebate on a case of beer?

TABC regs are the most protectionist legal regime imaginable. Would be hilarious if they got hoisted by their own petard ... again.

Maybe the rebate is just for the case, not what is inside said case.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

---

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

---

How do they get away with doing a $20 rebate on a case of beer?

TABC regs are the most protectionist legal regime imaginable. Would be hilarious if they got hoisted by their own petard ... again.

---

This photo is from a WalMart by the looks of the shelf label and doubtful it is Texas where rebates for alc purchases isn't allowed.

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

---

Don't producers augment distributors marketing budget as well?

in trying to read the fine print it looks like a $20 mail in rebate with the purchase of $50 worth of groceries as long as you buy two 12 packs of bud light.

TABC will never let this rebate fly in TX. When Stella was marketing a free Stella glass ( you pay shipping) with the purch of a 12pack, the asterisk noted valid in a lower 48 states except Texas. This would "incentivize" people to want to buy alcohol. This is the same org that made it illegal to have signage advertising "Ice Cold Beer". Had to drop the "ice" because it enticed, no pun intended.

Then again, the TABC is more crooked than a dogs hind leg, so it would not shock me if the TABC was enticed to do a temp halt to help Bud out.

Old Sarge said:

---

TABC will never let this rebate fly in TX. When Stella was marketing a free Stella glass ( you pay shipping) with the purch of a 12pack, the asterisk noted valid in a lower 48 states except Texas. This would "incentivize" people to want to buy alcohol. This is the same org that made it illegal to have signage advertising "Ice Cold Beer". Had to drop the "ice" because it enticed, no pun intended.

Then again, the TABC is more crooked than a dogs hind leg, so it would not shock me if the TABC was enticed to do a temp halt to help Bud out.

---

Didn't they also come up with their own definitions of types of beer to keep beers like yuengling (ie not distributed by the big 3) out of stores and bars no matter the demand?

aggielostinETX said:

---

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

---

Don't producers augment distributors marketing budget as well?

---

I'm not sure how much of a distributors Marketing budget is paid by a brewer if any. AB InBevs Marketing support is done through National Media . If they provide direct funds to augment local distributors Marketing I am not aware, someone that works for a distributor may know the answer to that.

Every business review I have ever been in with a distributor the volume discussion is about cases not sales dollars. We would have them quarterly or a few times a year depending on the distributor and about half the time there would be a rep from AB or MillerCoors along with the distributor Key Acct Manager. We would review performance reporting and they would present their promo calendar with dates they were discounting cases of one of their products and we would use that calendar to develop our retail promotional calendar. Brewers like AB or MC use their discount calendar to drive volume on their products.

Unit Directors at WalMarts have a lot of individual authority to create local promotions with their suppliers and if I had to guess that is what you are seeing in that rebate deal. I can't read all of the fine print but it looks like if a customer buys the WalMart item and the BL they can apply for the rebate. Maybe the distributor wanted to move product in their warehouse to turn inventory before it expired or something.

This isn't some AB plan to mask volume declines, if they wanted to do that you would see it offered in alot more WalMarts.

If AB wants to drive volume to recover the -23% trend you will see them increasing discounts on BL cases everywhere with distributors and retailers passing along the discount to customers.

Either way the decline will show when they report their revenue and GP $, they won't be able to hide that.

Old Sarge said:

---

TABC will never let this rebate fly in TX. When Stella was marketing a free Stella glass ( you pay shipping) with the purch of a 12pack, the asterisk noted valid in a lower 48 states except Texas. This would "incentivize" people to want to buy alcohol. This is the same org that made it illegal to have signage advertising "Ice Cold Beer". Had to drop the "ice" because it enticed, no pun intended.

Then again, the TABC is more crooked than a dogs hind leg, so it would not shock me if the TABC was enticed to do a temp halt to help Bud out.

---

So how is that any different than the Crown Royal holiday pack where they package two whiskey glasses with the bottle of Crown?

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

---

bonfarr said:

---

one MEEN Ag said:

---

TRM said:

---

I've been sober for almost a decade, so I'm not sure on this, but ain't a case like $20 most places?

Things can't be going great if they're basically giving it away... pic.twitter.com/aeCgHjlnEe

— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) May 13, 2023

---

I assume this rebate set up allows InBev to report the case as sold at full retail price, but then hide the true cost under a marketing giveaway.

So for Q2 their best case scenario is that sales are flat and pay no attention to the explosion in marketing expenses.

I fully expect inBev to find one small sliver of increased consumption, highlight the hell out of it, and roll out the mission accomplished flag.

They'll say something like, "Retail consumption in west coast suburban neighborhoods (where no one drank bud light anyway) grew 1% in Q2." And then the idiot media will say, 'InBev reports Q2 growth of 1% - repubs suck at boycotts.'

---

Distributors or Brewers don't report retail sales dollars, the retailers do. This rebate is probably paid by the distributors Marketing budget.

---

How do they get away with doing a $20 rebate on a case of beer?

TABC regs are the most protectionist legal regime imaginable. Would be hilarious if they got hoisted by their own petard ... again.

---

They are banking on 80% not mailing in the rebate coupon. Also not just $20 bucks in cost imagine the effort to open those and process. Probably ignore half of them and who will complain.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsP1Ykhs054/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Went to a wedding this weekend. They couldn't give the bud away. They quit serving the other beer to try to move the bud toward the end of the night, but still no takers!

BL and Bud sections at HEB actually seemed smaller today. Seems kind of quick to change their footprint in stores. Both sections were full compared to competitors.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12090131/Bud-Light-sales-falling-20-WEEK-new-norm-Dylan-Mulvaney-debacle.html

Quote:

---

Bud Light's sales plummeting by as much as 20 percent week-on-week could become the 'new norm' after the company's disastrous Dylan Mulvaney debacle.

Industry analysts have warned that unless something drastic changes, the negative volume trends will continue into the summer months, as a result of the beer brand's partnership with the transgender influencer.

For the week ending May 6, in-store sales of Bud Light across the US were down 23.6 percent compared to the year before. And the week before that, ending April 29, sales dropped by 23.3 percent.

---

Quote:

---

This follows declines in sales for the week ending April 22, which were at 21.4 percent. And seven days earlier, the dip was 17 percent, according to NielsenIQ data provided to Dailymail.com by Bump Williams Consultancy.

---

Quote:

---

The controversial trans influencer was sent a can of Bud Light with her face on it to celebrate a year since she transitioned from male to female.

The data - showing that US sales are dropping by as much as 20 percent each week - has since been described by industry experts as 'bad.'

Bump Williams from Bump Williams Consultancy told DailyMail.com: 'I don't think the declines in sales/volume will get any worse, but I do think their negative volume trends will continue.'

He said that sales dipping by 20 percent seems to be the new 'norm' for Bud Light.

But he added that experts are waiting to see what will happen to sales over Memorial Day and summer selling season to assess if the damage will continue.

Williams, who specializes in the alcohol industry, told the St Louis Business Journal: 'This seems to be where the brand's weekly declines have started to settle, falling in that -20% range over the past few week.

'I wonder if this is going to be the 'floor' for expected Bud Light declines moving forward unless something drastic changes.'

---

Quote:

---

Meanwhile, at a CVS in West Palm Beach, Florida, attempting to shift some of its Bud Light stock shelves were fully stocked with multipacks of the beers.

Onlookers joked that no one wanted to buy the alcohol following the scandal.

---

Quote:

---

Another person said that after driving around different stores and gas stations in Mississippi, they saw an overflow of Bud products because 'no one is buying it.'

Williams previously said that Bud Light must apologize and added: 'Right now their compass is completely broken. There's no game plan.'

---

My dad's friend has a theory. He's a big time Coors Light drinker.

He says you see a lot more swapping of beers between Coors Light and Bud Light. You order a Coors Light but they don't have it then you just get a Bud Light. He says Miller Lite drinkers tend to prefer to stick to Miller Lite more. He says Miller Lite has a more distinct taste so people that drink it want that "Miller Lite taste".

If you take one old drunk's theory, it's not that difficult for people to swap from Bud Light to Coors Light or something else.

Full disclosure, I'm a Miller Lite drinker and I think it's fantastic.