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(Courtesy Anheuser-Busch)
In an effort to reclaim its crown after years of declining sales in the US, the ‘King of Beer’ is getting a packaging update. And so is its lower calorie lager line.
Labels submitted to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in December showcase the updated imaging that Anheuser-Busch will be using for Budweiser and most likely for its Budweiser Select line of beers.
This from Peter Frost at Behind the Beer…
“Its new Bud cans, detailed in a brand tweet, eschew the stylized Budweiser script for a throwback look featuring a serif block font, giving the cans a similar look to those used from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s. The new cans also bring forward more of the brand’s signature red along the margins of the can and replace most of the light gray in its badge with navy blue.”
Beers released under Budweiser’s Select Series may also be getting a makeover. We use ‘may, because not every label submitted to the TTB for approval ends up as a finished product.
Budweiser Select’s 4.3% ABV Light Lager may be moving to a dramatically starker label design with a bold black background with white and red lettering.
Budweiser Select 55, an even lower 2.4% ABV Light Lager, may also be getting an update, moving to dark gray and bright red lettering on a gray background.
As Frost notes “the redesign of the Select line comes months after Molson Coors unveiled a redesign of competitor Miller64. And Molson Coors, home to the 64 calorie, 2.8% ABV sobriety alternative, produced a fun video featuring Nicholas Braun, “Cousin Greg” from HBO’s hit series Succession, to plug it.
Originally launched as MGD 64 in 2008, the brand “has never been able to make a dent in the dominance that Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob Ultra has in the low-cal beer category,” according to AdAge. But given the growth of consumers seeking out lower alcohol, carbohydrate and calorie beer options the company thought the timing was right to reintroduce it.
And clearly Anheuser-Busch’s low alcohol, lower calorie, Budweiser Select packaging redesigns are targeting the same demographics as the Molson Coors’ rejuvenated Miller64 brand with both global brewers racing to attract the attention of the more health-conscience beer consumer…a valuable segment which is came into its own in 2019.
