Anheuser-Busch InBev Reorganizes High End Division

“Today’s announcement is an important step to better align our commercial structure with our new long-term business strategy, specifically as it relates to premiumization and innovation,”

That there is some High End Corporate Babble! I'm impressed!

 

I'm impressed too. This also means wait and see what happens next.

 

'Premiumization' really takes the cake!

No matter where I turn these days it feels like I'm stuck in a dystopian satire. I only wish that someone would premiumize it already...

 

Premiumization. They should just say they charge more for it now than before. I love making up words, but that one is less than euphonious and sounds like something from 1984 or Brave New World.

 

What do you say to them inventing a word that does not exist in the dictionary: “Premiumization”?

I would guess that the appropriate response is: Dilly dilly!

Cheers!

 

I was so stunned by that bullshit that I was left speechless.

Which is a rare thing.

 

To the "pit of misery" you go!

Cheers!

 

I think Craft Brew News had a great take on this:
"...
So AB’s efforts to effectively and efficiently sell craft beer in the US evolve once more. Most craft brands, this move suggests, play regionally or locally, though efforts to support those brands may require coordination at national level, where Felipe and his High End team come into play. But reorg also highlights a clear difference between that regional or local work and what’s required to build a national craft brand. It’s the difference between leveraging Goose’s renovated Clybourn brewpub or selling 16oz canned 4-pks of 312 Dry Hopped in Chicago and a Goose IPA Super Bowl ad, for example. Separating the two will benefit each, AB seems to believe. Exactly how it allocates resources across them, plus competition for those regional/local resources among its acquired craft brands, will continue to impact each brand’s and AB’s success within the segment."

I'd be pretty nervous if I was working at one of the smaller regional breweries. At the end of the day, guys like DB and WW were betting that ABI's support would counterbalance backlash from the Craft community and allow for continued growth. If ABI's support begins to fade, you become an acquired brand without the benefits. Will be interesting to see how this shakes out

 

Making up words is a very fun exercise. Some become recognized words. Many are euphemisms. Some apply varied layers of entendre. And then just about every other way imaginable. Dilly dilly comes- I think- from the tune Ring Around the Rosies, dealing with The Great Plague.

 

Premiumization is such an equally awesome and awful nugget of bogus, empty officetalk, I may have to steal it for a beer name...maybe an American Premium Pilsner?
Hey, worse case scenario, maybe I can score some free super bowl tickets!

 

Premiumization is a travishamockery for sure.

 

Premiumizationalized would make a great name for a brandy barrel-aged, triple dry-hopped IPA with lactose and oats.

 

Weighing in at 8.00. Syllables, that is.

 

You forgot the uglifruit. I award you zero Dogfishbucks.

 

I think this type of strategery speaks bigly to the known unknowns of the splendiferous future of the high end craft division at ABI.

i.e. This shit isn't paying like we had hoped so be ready for us to start tinkering with you even more. Welcome to the ABI family.

 

Can you please clarify "they charge more for it now?" What is it, and when are you comparing it to?

 

This actually makes sense to me. The "captive craft breweries" are a different kind of business, in from "crafty" shock top and the imports/ "imports", I think .

 

I'm failing to see where the idea that ABI's support is going to fade is coming from. They are dividing the high end portfolio, which formerly included all of the brands listed in the first post, into two groups. The craft portfolio will have all of the same employees as the former high end group, but with fewer (only 12 vs 20+ previously) brands to focus on. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me that would mean more focus and support on the craft brands while Stella, Hoegaarden, etc will be considered core brands and will no longer have a separate, dedicated sales team.

 

So if I premiumization myself does that mean I'll finally meet that rich widow who owns a liquor store?