Anheuser Busch, possibly in a marketing move meant to emulate the famous “New” Coke(tm) efforts of 1985, has introduced a new adult beverage, B-to-the-E. The new drink rolled out nationally in January this year, after successful marketing trials in New York, LA, Boston, Miami and other test markets.
This is a slim 10-ounce can that contains, in effect, the ingredients of that yummy rave drink Red Bull ™, and good ol’ Budweiser ™ beer. It contains caffeine, guarana and ginseng — a sort of healthy wake-up drink mixed with beer, 6.6 percent alcohol by volume. (I must have the turbo version. Web articles say it is a 4.5 percent alcohol beverage.)
Red Bull ™ has a healthful, uh, healthy, 70 to 90 per cent of the energy drink market — about $1.6 billion according to SellingPower.com. While describing this success, they admit it doesn’t taste very good: I’ve had it and it makes me long for orange Triaminic ™ Cough Syrup, which is flavored to prevent not-very-sick kids from malingering at home.
“You’ll need that orange cough syrup every four hours.”
“That’s OK, Mom. My throat feels better. I think I’ll go to school and take that test I haven’t studied for.”
I can see why anyone might try RB once, but repeat buying is a mystery. (There is no nicotine in any of these products.) Apparently, RB supports extreme sporting events and has a lot of word-of-mouth buzz marketing. Think young; think Tony Hawke fans. RB is often served as a mixer with vodka. (Aha, you gotta cut that candy sweetness with something.)
Anyway, Anheuser Busch ™ and Coca-Cola ™ have tried to enter this market for years to break the Bull’s dominance.
Apparently, B-to-the-E is the latest AB attempt. The sweetness of the product makes me think it is aimed at those younger drinkers whose number of years being of drinking age can be measuresd with a calendar or maybe a stopwatch.
The editor of All About Beer magazine says “You get a little bit drunk but it keeps you alert. ” Basically, she thinks this is as dumb an idea as I do. Rather than paraphrasing it read her beer marketing insights for yourself. Or see the allaboutbeer beer expert’s website.
The large grocery store where I bought B-to-the-E had NO six-packs for sale, only single cans. Do they know something about the product that a potential customer would want to know?
Grudgingly, I have tasted the new brew. It is supposed to have a berry, not beery, taste. Good news: it looks exactly like Budweiser ™, foamy head and all. As a beer drinker, you get that expectation of a decent — maybe fine — thirst-quenching brew. Bad news: it tastes bitter spackled over with sweetness. The contrasting flavors make it hard to pin down. Mixed news: I now want to take a nap and sinultaneously stay up all night and go clubbing. (Like my new ID? I am of drinking age.)
For me, I’m going to remain a happy consumer of any Anheuser product that doesn’t taste like soda pop. Or cough syrup.