Anheuser Busch, one of the largest brewing companies in the world, recently announced it’s top global marketing executive is leaving the company after a collapse in Bud Light sales. Rudi Kahle, who was the company’s Chief Marketing Officer since 2009, was in charge of Bud Light which saw sales drop by almost 10% from 2017 to 2018.
This decline has been attributed to the rise of craft beer as well as the Americans switching to wine and hard seltzers instead of beer as their preferred beverage. Anheuser Busch has already started to dip their toes in the hard seltzer market with the launch of Bud Light Lemonade. Additionally, the company has shifted its focus to the younger demographic by increasing their marketing spend for Bud Light.
However, the move to change the focus and increasing the marketing spend has resulted in the loss of Kahle who had been with the company since 1997. With this decision, A-B is trying to remind consumers that Bud Light is the biggest and best-selling beer in the US.
Kahle’s departure is only the latest in a series of changes for Anheuser Busch. It seems that the company is struggling to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the beer industry and has clearly identified Bud Light as an area of improvement. What the company will do to turn around Bud Light’s sales remains to be seen.