Rival breweries getting frothy with TV spots

ST. LOUIS -- In a marketing game now brewing between Anheuser-Busch and Miller, some question whether the rival beermakers using referees in commercial pitches have lost sight of true sportsmanship.

"To some degree, it has become unusually personal," said Hoag Levins, editor and executive producer of Advertising Age magazine's Web site, AdAge.com. "Some of the advertising is really petty."

And risky, he says. Beermakers naming each other in TV spots could end up confusing consumers. His advice: Trumpet your own product, and leave the other guy out of it.

"When you mention the competitor you're trying to crush, are you inadvertently burning the competitor's brand in the consumer's mind?" Levins said Friday. "There's a great deal of debate about how smart that is."

Lately, all the hubbub has bubbled up about Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co.'s "Good Call" TV ad campaign, featuring a referee who pops up and penalizes drinkers of top-selling Bud and Bud Light drinkers for "unbeermanlike" conduct and other infractions. The official replaces the beer with Miller Lite or Miller Genuine Draft.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch countered with commercials suggesting the referees actually are stealing the Bud Light for themselves.

Spoof ads rejected

According to some reports this week, ABC and its sister network ESPN rejected three proposed Anheuser-Busch spots spoofing the Miller ones.

ABC spokeswoman July Hoover refused to discuss what she called a confidential matter, saying "we never disclose dealings with our clients or the results of our reviews." ESPN also would not comment. The Walt Disney Co., the corporate parent of both networks, referred inquiries to ESPN.

Anheuser-Busch did not directly deny the report, issuing a statement saying its "ad campaigns are performing well in the marketplace and none have been pulled off the air by any networks."

Francine Katz, an Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman, said Friday "we have no plans to pull the spots," crediting them with improved sales of Bud Light and low-carb Michelob Ultra.

"We believe there's no doubt these spots are part of our success," she said. "I can tell you that people tell us our ads are hysterical and they love them. We look to entertain consumers; we don't worry about what competitors like or don't like about our commercials."

She declined to discuss Anheuser-Busch's advertising strategy, including whether the spots would continue challenging Miller by name: "Who's to say?"

Miller apparently also isn't budging. The brewer has just launched its latest TV spot featuring a referee, with the plug showing an official, using instant reply, declaring: "Upon further review, the call still stands. Miller Lite still has more taste and half the carbs of Bud Light."

"As a much smaller company with an 18 [percent] share competing against Anheuser-Busch with more than 50 percent of the market, it is very beneficial for us to ask consumers to compare Miller's beers versus Anheuser-Busch's beers," Miller spokesman Pete Marino said.

Last month, CBS, ABC and NBC announced they would pull three ads by Miller after Anheuser-Busch complained that nine Miller ads that aired since the summer were unsubstantiated and misleading.

One of the pulled ads was considered unduly "disparaging"; the other two spots were yanked because they insinuated an unsubstantiated preference claim.

In complaint letters to federal regulators and the Beer Institute trade group, consumer watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest has argued that the Anheuser-Busch commercials of beer-pilfering refs bolting from police depict lawlessness.

The center says that "though done in a jocular manner, the ads clearly run afoul" of the institute's voluntary codes barring ads that "portray or imply illegal behavior of any kind."

"Crime is no joke, nor is the subtext of obtaining one's beer through underhanded means," George Hacker, chief of the center's Alcohol Policies Project, wrote in his complaint letter.

Anheuser-Busch defended the commercials as "clearly meant to be a spoof of the spots currently being run by our competitor."

"We believe consumers understand that the activities shown in the commercials are not real, but rather part of the over-the-top humor that makes the spots funny," John Kaestner, vice president of consumer affairs for the world's largest brewer, wrote the center in a letter Dec. 9.

He called the spots "a lighthearted and funny extension of Bud Light's long-standing 'people will go to great lengths to enjoy a Bud Light' ad campaign."

Still, some analysts submit that in an industry where brewers should get kudos for funny innovation in TV spots over the years, it may be time for Anheuser-Busch and Miller to stop chucking bottles at each other.

"I hope cooler heads will prevail," said Juli Niemann, an analyst with RT Jones Capital Equities in St. Louis.

In beer drinking circles, where brand loyalty among consumers is intense, a brewer spending millions to poach business from a rival may not be money best spent, Niemann said.

"The numbers don't lie; everyone's pretty much kept their own stance," she said. "Using an enormous amount of money to fight over an incremental share is amazing. Is that the most effective use of advertising dollars? My answer is no."

The war has waged for several months. Anheuser-Busch labeled Miller Lite as the "Queen of Carbs." With its "President of Beer" TV ad campaign, Miller mocked Budweiser's self-proclaimed status as the "King of Beers." In response, Anheuser-Busch revived animated lizards Frankie and Louie to ridicule Miller.

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On the Net:

Anheuser-Busch: http://www.anheuser-busch.com

Miller Brewing: http://www.millerbrewing.com