Beer Brawl III: Drink It Or Else

(For Part II, click Beer Brawl II: How Gusto Lost Its Mojo.)

In Part II, Schlitz was reformulated, sacrificing taste, quality and shelf life  for bigger margins. Sales collapsed and the brand went into free fall.

Schlitz A Brick 4Schlitz’s self-inflicted defeat included one more surprising twist, brought to you by a world famous advertising agency. Like any good corner man, Chicago-based Leo Burnett realized that their client might be down for the count. The ad men decided that aggressive marketing was the only way to save the brand. Thus was born the legendary “Take Away My Gusto?” television campaign. Calling it aggressive proved to be an understatement.

A milquetoast voiceover nervously suggested that an actor portraying a Schlitz drinker try some other brand. The suddenly irate suds-sucker addressed the camera as if he had caught the home audience breaking Cougarinto his fridge and stealing his last six-pack. Thunderstruck viewers felt like the town bully had gone on a bender and busted into their living rooms in a beer-fueled rage. The nerve! After all, they hadn’t messed with this psycho’s Schlitz; Schlitz had messed with his Schlitz!

The most obnoxious spot featured a handsome lumberjack type chopping wood in the company of his (no kidding) pet cougar and a frosty mug of Schlitz. Incredibly, nobody at the ad agency had the sense to realize that combining alcohol, an axe and a mountain lion is never really a good idea. By the time the Brawny Paper Towel Man’s evil twin was ordering the big cat to eat the audience for lunch, the last, tattered remnants of Gusto had drifted away on a bitter wind. Advertising wags quickly declared the disastrous ads and their devastating impact on remaining sales the “Drink Schlitz or I’ll Kill You” campaign.

The battered brand rolled under the ropes and out of the ring. Milwaukee’s landmark Joseph Schlitz brewery closed. The Schlitz name was sold to Stroh’s. The champ had become a chump.

Budweiser reigned. Historically speaking, Pabst Blue Ribbon should have slid comfortably into the number two spot. But Pabst had problems of its own. In the early 1960s, Pabst had lowered the retail price of its flagship Blue Ribbon beer. Intentionally or not, that repositioned the brand, moving it from the “premium” to the “popular price” category. Sales rose initially, then began to decline. The American middle class was riding high in the ’60s, and preferred “premium” beer. PBR was soon seen as the cheap stuff, and the public perception of the brand was neatly summarized in the 1973 country smash, “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer.”

RN BS BRB Final Unlike Schlitz, PBR had not been reformulated. But its image had. As Schlitz self-destructed, Blue Ribbon’s decline took a steep turn for the worse. The brand never recovered. Tellingly, the “popular price” beer category eventually came to be known as the “sub-premium” category.

The clock struck Miller time, and there was a new number two in town. Following its purchase by Phillip Morris in the late 1960s, Miller® High Life™ relied on a war chest stuffed with tobacco profits and cigarette marketing savvy to become America’s second-most-popular beer in record time. Miller also introduced Miller Lite™, the first light beer and, to the surprise of brewers everywhere, a huge hit—with massive implications for the American market.

Working budBlue Ribbon’s dive and Schlitz’s suicide had Miller looking like a sure thing. Certain that Anheuser-Busch’s golden boy was on the ropes, Phillip Morris execs moved in for the win. They didn’t realize the easy part was over.

Budweiser countered every punch, dazzled the crowd with clever marketing campaigns, and spent the 1980s and ’90s knocking the wind of Miller. As Bud developed an aura of invincibility, the once-mighty Schlitz haunted the lower shelves at rock bottom prices, a pathetic shadow of its former self.

(This concludes Part III. Click now to read Beer Brawl IV: Gusto Rides Again.)

 

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