It takes quite a lot of creativity to lose $27 billion.
On Monday, Anheuser-Busch’s chief advertising and marketing officer accepted an award for “Creative Marketer of the Year,” a few months after Bud Light’s disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Marcel Marcondes accepted the prize on the Cannes Lions, the promoting trade’s greatest annual occasion popularly dubbed “the Oscars for advertising,” however acknowledged as a humbling mistake the Bud Light backlash that had value the corporate tens of billions in market-cap worth.
“In times like this, when things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers first of all to be very humble,” he stated.
Companies needs to be “really reminding ourselves of what we should do best every day, which is to really understand our consumers,” he stated.
The prize had been introduced earlier than the Mulvaney flap, however was solely awarded Monday and, in keeping with Ad Age, the incongruity of Anheuser-Busch accepting a advertising and marketing prize was the primary matter Mr. Marcondes addressed.
Understanding shoppers means “to really celebrate and appreciate every consumer that loves our brands — but in a way that can make them be together, not apart,” Mr. Marcondes stated.
The problem of that tightrope is mirrored within the sequence of the Bud Light flap, which started with conservative outrage however later grew to incorporate liberal and LGBTQ anger on the firm for perceived buckling to the primary backlash.
Bud Light misplaced its decades-held standing because the top-selling beer within the U.S. as of final week.
Mr. Marcondes stated Bud Light “is all about bringing people together” and predicted a rebound.
“That’s what we all, as a team, will be doing moving forward as a group. That’s what leaders do. Bud Light is coming back. It’s going all around the country, reconnecting with consumers, moving forward. That’s what you can expect from Bud Light in the U.S.” he stated.
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