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It’s more than a just little ironic, that the first Big Beer company to respond the Brewers Association’s faux crowdfunding campaign to purchase AB InBev, was not the target of the joke themselves…but MillerCoors.
Writing for MillerCoors Behind the Beer, Peter Frost takes what only can be described as a passive-aggressive approach to the BA’s tongue-in-cheek initiative.
After first announcing that MillerCoors is a member of the Brewers Association (a fact we found interesting of itself), Frost complains about the BA’s naming their campaign “Take Craft Back,” noting that, at least from his perspective, “the group does not make clear how, or if, it was lost.”
But the author’s contrived confusion as to the point of the Brewers Association’s campaign speaks volumes…It also immediately clarifies the obvious…Frost is a spokesperson and propagandist for Big Beer…so whatever.
He goes on to snarkily advise that shares of AB InBev’s stock “were unaffected by Brewers Association’s overture, closing up 0.3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange,” the day of the BA’s announcement.
What the BA’s “Take Craft Back” launch didn’t crush AB InBev’s stock price? The Brewers Association has got to be bummed!
Frost uses his Behind the Beer platform to also brag about MillerCoors own ‘craft’ division Tenth and Blake, whose holdings now include names like Terrapin Beer, Hop Valley, Revolver and St Archer Brewing.
In his piece, he takes the opportunity to quote Tenth and Blake’s VP, Peter Marino, on the growing number of independent craft brewer’s showing interest in aligning themselves with his division…
“If the number of inbound calls that we are getting is any indication, more and more independent craft brewers are open to the idea, or at the very least exploring their options to partner with a large brewer or financial partner.”
We found Marino’s quote to be a particularly interesting, if not a somewhat ironic inclusion by Frost, who opened his article by feigning confusion as to what the Brewers Association meant by ‘Take Craft Back’ …as if Marino’s comment wasn’t exactly the BA’s point.
Frost ends his take on the BA’s prank campaign, which he initially dismissed as a “marketing ploy,” by begrudgingly acknowledging its success…
“The goal of any marketing campaign, of course, is to generate ink. Or pixels, as it were. In that, the Brewers Association has succeeded.”
Again, a little passive-aggressive…no?
