Advertising Past and Present

Advertising Past and Present Paper

For my advertising past and present paper I have chosen Anheuser-Busch. To drive themselves into success over 150 years is their ability to create innovation with advertising and marketing. Throughout time Anheuser-Busch has developed concepts that bring together their products to the beer drinkers.

In the early days of the beer business (1852-1900) majority of beer advertising was done through word-of-mouth by traveling salesman or by what are known as "beer drummers", plus the utilization of print such as wall hangings and beer trays placed in bars. Adolphus Busch created the first advertising campaign for beer in the 1880's, the Bud girl wall hangings, these hangings were made of tin and lasted until about 1910 that displayed about nine different women holding a bottle of Budweiser. During the late 1800's (1896) Anheuser-Busch used what is considered there most successful advertising pieces, distributing thousands of signs to bars, hotels, and restaurants that contained "Custer's Last Fight". This at the time was considered to be trendsetting ways to display the products. Also another advertising method developed at the time was giving away items that featured the Anheuser-Busch logo on match safes and cork pulls. The owner Adolphus Busch mastered the ways to market his products, and this included the realization different brands were suited for different consumers. By the 1900's Anheuser-Busch had approximately 15 types of beer and all were targeted towards different consumers. For example, Michelob, introduced in 1896, was marketed as a "Draught Beer for Connoisseurs" and limited to select, high-end retail outlets. In the 1920's prohibition went into effect, and in order for the company to remain open and relevant they had to develop items that did not contain any alcohol. They did this by developing and marketing over 25 non-alcoholic products, these products included soft drinks and ice creams. During Prohibition Anheuser-Busch continued to

make beer, but with a twist, they used practices to remove the alcohol content. They advertised as Budweiser but included that it had the taste just lacked the alcohol. When the repeal of prohibition took effect in 1933 Anheuser-Busch used advertisement, "Something More Than Beer Is Back", this was used to help get the word out that not only was beer back in production but that the importance of jobs being returned. They even created advertisement around the depression era to remain relevant and survive. In 1936 the advertising slogan "Every Sip Helps Somebody" was targeted around letting those who consume the beer that by them doing so will keep people employed. During the prohibition era, beer drinkers became accustomed to boot leg beer, so Anheuser-Busch developed an advertising campaign known as "Five Day Test". This was created to re-educate the beer drinkers about the American lager taste. The point of this campaign was to allow consumers to try Budweiser for five days and they would realize that the boot leg beer had a sweeter taste and they would come back to Anheuser-Busch. In 1955 a television spot was paid for by August A. Busch Jr. to introduce the first new beer since prohibition, "Busch Bavarian", this beer was marketed towards what is known as the American past time (baseball). During the 1950's Anheuser-Busch