• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Money: Here’s Big Beer’s five step plan to ‘crush the craft beer revolution’

October 19, 2015Keith Gribbins

AB InBev logo
Let us show you how this otherworldly beer bird hunts.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has a vision — it’s to grow its stature and profits as the biggest beer company in the world — and we can learn much by the way this beer giant executes its strategy. Ten years ago, the world’s beer industry was highly fragmented, and back then Anheuser-Busch’s 8.5 percent market share was enough to make it the global beer leader. What a difference a decade makes.

In 2015, AB InBev is reported to have about 21 percent of the world’s market share in beer, and this Belgian-based, world beverage mogul has recently just offered to buy its rival brewer, SABMiller, for a deal reportedly valued at $104 billion. Currently, SABMiller has a global market share of around 10 percent, which would give AB InBev a world-conquering 30 percent of the global market if the merger goes through. Thirty percent is bad, right? Well, it’s worse here. While the company should have to sell off many of its American assets to satisfy the U.S. Justice Department, the company is still approaching 50 percent market share in the United States.

While the SABMiller deal is largely a move to grow its international markets, AB InBev definitely has its Terminator eye clearly focused on the U.S. beer industry. In a market flooded in beer brands, the company is going to need a crafty strategy to grow its coffers, and Money magazine has narrowed that strategy down into a five-point plan.

#1. Create your own quasi-craft brands.
#2. Snatch up craft brews that’ll sell out.
#3. Defend macro brews, bash craft snobs.
#4. Control distribution.
#5. Merge and overwhelm the marketplace.

Let us add three more to that list: Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Also, we might put distribution at No. 1. The most concerning and secretive news lately seems to be AB InBev buying or strong-arming wholesalers to disrupt craft beer distribution; check out this story on the subject. Then check out this complete guide to all the Big Beer activity in the last 12 months:

The guide to craft beer mergers, acquisitions, ESOPs and liquidity transactions in the past 12 months

We’ve seen the five strategies above for years, but Money wisely simplified these tactical tentacles into list form. And because the domestic beer market has become so competitive, AB InBev will need to tie this strategy into a message, and having a big bankroll for advertising and marketing might be its greatest competitive advantage — directing consumer tastes.

There are many competitive advantages to creating one gigantic beer company too. Namely, advertising. According to a Marketplace report, AB InBev and SABMiller spend a total of $500 billion annually on sports sponsorships. But now that they’re not competing with each other for partnerships with, say, the Milwaukee Brewers or the Olympics, they’ll have more negotiating power and probably will be able to save some of that cash. “They will have a lot more leverage in the marketplace,” Chris Pearlman, executive vice president with Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment, explained. “Ultimately [they will] spend less than they would have had they remained separate.”

We suggest you read the entire article by Brad Tuttle.

AB InBev logo
AB InBev purchase of SABMiller is finally approved; here are the important modifications
Budweiser Coors Sam Adams Sierra Nevada
National Beer Wholesalers Association addresses the many perils of an AB InBev/SABMiller merger with Congress
SAB Miller cbb crop Miller 64
Release the lawyers! West coast brewers sue over AB InBev/SABMiller merger
Anheuser_Busch_InBev
AB InBev to buy SABMiller for $104 billion (a deal that largely does not concern the U.S. market)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. federicofiallos says

    October 22, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/HHR6YClZCZ

    Log in to Reply
  2. BlackcombLiquor says

    October 20, 2015 at 10:47 pm

    RT @bolstr: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/v8dZwcIRkS via @CraftBrewingBiz

    Log in to Reply
  3. E_Maroulis says

    October 20, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    RT @belgianbeerday: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/xIf5odggda https://t.co/jDdUhjX6xf

    Log in to Reply
  4. Rick van den Brink says

    October 20, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    Rick van den Brink liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  5. bolstr says

    October 20, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/v8dZwcIRkS via @CraftBrewingBiz

    Log in to Reply
  6. pena_zelem says

    October 20, 2015 at 5:59 am

    RT @DeVicVantStad: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/LVlauUF9e3 https://t.co/tdnQYCXJTS

    Log in to Reply
  7. Han J Lin says

    October 20, 2015 at 5:51 am

    Han J Lin liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  8. Todd Parker says

    October 20, 2015 at 5:51 am

    Todd Parker liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  9. Rudpren says

    October 20, 2015 at 1:22 am

    RT @DeVicVantStad: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/LVlauUF9e3 https://t.co/tdnQYCXJTS

    Log in to Reply
  10. DeVicVantStad says

    October 19, 2015 at 11:00 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/LVlauUF9e3 https://t.co/tdnQYCXJTS

    Log in to Reply
  11. Jim Sung says

    October 19, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    Jim Sung liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  12. Eddie Leon says

    October 19, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    Eddie Leon liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  13. LifesABeer says

    October 19, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    RT @CaptainCheers: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/3WliGXQeeI https://t.co/KP9cDRibm0

    Log in to Reply
  14. Cerveza_KAF says

    October 19, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    RT @belgianbeerday: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/xIf5odggda https://t.co/jDdUhjX6xf

    Log in to Reply
  15. CaptainCheers says

    October 19, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/3WliGXQeeI https://t.co/KP9cDRibm0

    Log in to Reply
  16. belgianbeerday says

    October 19, 2015 at 8:16 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/xIf5odggda https://t.co/jDdUhjX6xf

    Log in to Reply
  17. Horia Ciocan says

    October 19, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Horia Ciocan liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  18. Eric Drabenstot says

    October 19, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Eric Drabenstot liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  19. John Miller says

    October 19, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    I do not believe they should be able to purchase Miller. Leaving only Coors and Pabst and themselves as the big commodity beers. It’s a sort of monopoly and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. AB is also buying craft breweries. ..this is not good…

    Log in to Reply
  20. Adam Holtvogt says

    October 19, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    Adam Holtvogt liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  21. Brews2014 says

    October 19, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    RT @CraftCrawler: Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/dGPemiLcaE

    Log in to Reply
  22. CraftCrawler says

    October 19, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    Money: Big Beer’s 5 steps to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution https://t.co/dGPemiLcaE

    Log in to Reply
  23. LVRGLLC says

    October 19, 2015 at 2:16 pm

    #CraftBeer #CraftBrewing #Beer #BeerBiz Money: Here’s Big Beer’s five step plan to ‘crush the craft beer revolutio… http://t.co/qbnbKJq6iM

    Log in to Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Brewery Beatdown - KaTom Blog says:
    June 23, 2017 at 9:04 am

    […] craft beer companies to try to cash in on the trend. While this has sent some craft beer fans into a panic, we have yet to see if being bought out by larger companies will affect a craft brewery’s […]

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Higher learning: Eastern Washington University and No-Li Brewhouse launch Craft Beer Certificate
  • Texas’ Bishop Cider is in explode mode, acquires two breweries, expanding to seven locations
  • Athletic Brewing earns Certified B Corp status as it celebrates four years
  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer
    May 23, 2022
  • The-IBA-TeamIBA hits milestone – 1 million bbls of buying power – what’s next for the co-op?
    May 19, 2022
  • 2022 beer branding trends part 1: reinvention
    May 17, 2022
  • satisfaction surveysAre brewery employees happy? Depends on the department
    May 16, 2022
  • Male hand closes hatch of brewery tankUnfiltered: Do I need to clean tanks between transfers?
    May 11, 2022
  • Hard seltzers: Achieve high alcohol fermentations in a clean and neutral way with the proper nutrient aids
    May 9, 2022

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2022 · CBB Media LLC

Posting....