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MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley is big on farmers
A Bud Light Super Bowl ad that was intended to shame its competitors for brewing their beer with corn syrup has continued to generate conversation and even sent MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley to the farmlands of Iowa to hang out with farmers…
Sometimes we can’t make this stuff up…
It all started On Super Bowl Sunday when Bud Light returned to last year’s popular “Dilly, Dilly” medieval kingdom to accuse both Miller Lite and Coors Light of using corn syrup in their beers.
In the Super Bowl spot, the kingdom of Bud Light mistakenly receives a gigantic barrel of corn syrup that wasn’t intended for them. And because Bud Light doesn’t use corn syrup in its beer, the kingdom’s subjects embark on a brutal journey to deliver the barrel to the kingdoms of Miller Lite and Coors Light – because they evidently do.
The spot’s corn syrup accusations, though not denied, drew a quick rebuttal from MillerCoors as well as from the National Corn Growers Association which helps to explain why MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley was seen power-pounding beers with farmers out in Iowa last week.
Molson Coors is the the parent company of MillerCoors, and during its 2018 fourth-quarter earnings call which reported 0.7 percent annual net sales decline and a 28.7 percent decrease in annual net income for MolsonCoors, Hattersley was almost bullish about the ‘corntroversial” Bud Light commercial…
“Anheuser-Busch could not have handled it as a better gift if they tried harder. Our distributors are proud. They are fiercely competitive and they like nothing more than a good fight.”
“Nothing we could have done could have fired them up so much,” he said. “Our employees are just as fired up and the next few months are going to be interesting for sure.”
“It’s disappointing that {Anheuser-Busch has chosen to single-handedly damage the overall health of the beer category health initiative by disparaging American farmers and natural ingredients that most brewers, including themselves, I might add, use quite extensively.”
To build on what the Des Moines Register refers to as a “perceived vulnerability in the Iowa beer market that MillerCoors was positioned to take advantage of,” MillerCoors launched a nationwide toast to farmers (#ToastToFamers) on February 15th followed by Hattersley’s “drinking with farmers Iowa tour” soon after that…
Not missing an opportunity to weigh in on this Big Beer smackdown, Boston Beer’s Jim Koch also added his take on the ongoing corntroversy this week, nailing both brewers for using time-saving adjuncts to their beers…”
“This corn vs. rice vs. corn syrup debate is as silly as dilly dilly. It’s like McDonald’s and Burger King arguing about grilling vs. broiling their burgers. Who cares? Fast food is still fast food.”
