UFC embraces embattled Bud Light beer brand with AB InBev partnership



The UFC and Anheuser-Busch have announced a partnership that will involve significant promotion of the Bud Light beer brand.

"UFC®, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization and part of TKO Group Holdings ... together with Anheuser-Busch ... today announced a new multiyear marketing partnership. Effective January 1, 2024, the brewer will become the exclusive 'Official Beer Partner of UFC.' With this sponsorship, in the U.S., Bud Light will bring easy enjoyment to 21+ fans with 360-degree programming, including custom social and digital content, broadcast integration, on-site presence, and more," a press release states.

"AB InBev, the world's leading brewer and global parent company of Anheuser-Busch, will be UFC's Official Global Beer Partner and will receive a deep level of integration into key UFC assets, ranging from live events, including broadcast features and in-arena promotion, to original content distributed through UFC's popular digital and social channels," the press release notes.

The embattled Bud Light brand has been the target of significant public backlash since it enlisted transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman, to promote the beverage.

"I'm proud to announce we are back in business together. There are many reasons why I chose to go with Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light, most importantly because I feel we are very aligned when it comes to our core values and what the UFC brand stands for. I'm looking forward to all of the incredible things we will do in the years ahead," UFC CEO Dana White said, according to the press release.

The UFC is embracing the tarnished brand, as the partnership will include broad promotion of Bud Light.

"Among the more notable integrations, in the U.S. Bud Light will receive prominent branding inside the most recognizable setting in all of sports, the world-famous Octagon®, at every UFC event including all Pay-Per-Views and Fight Nights, DANA WHITE'S CONTENDER SERIES, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER reality series, and ROAD TO UFC, a win-and-advance tournament for Asia's top MMA prospects," the press release notes.

"Bud Light will also be integrated into custom broadcast features in all U.S. UFC Pay-Per-Views, with their popular 'Easy to Enjoy' and 'Easy to Celebrate' fan campaigns highlighted in the segments," the press relase states. "In addition, UFC and Bud Light will collaborate on original content that will be distributed through UFC’s popular digital and social channels, which reach more than 243 million users worldwide."

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Anheuser-Busch showered distributors with $150 million in 'incentive payments' to reportedly keep Bud Light on shelves



Anheuser-Busch showered distributors with $150 million in "incentive payments" to keep Bud Light beer on the shelves, according to a new report.

According to Beer Marketer’s Insights, Anheuser-Busch is offering as much as $150 million in relief this year alone to beer and liquor distributors. AB InBev will reportedly provide the distributors with millions in "market share recovery incentives."

The New York Post reported, "There were no further details about the 'market share recovery incentives,' but the timing is significant as most retailers revamp their shelf space in the spring when they look at the last 12 months of sales and determine which products are hot and deserve more space — and which will lose space."

The relief plan was started in June by Anheuser-Busch and will reportedly continue through the spring.

"Bud Light is set to lose refrigerator space at a vast network of stores belonging to key beer sellers like Walmart and 7-Eleven, since the retailers typically reapportion shelf space based on recent sales performance, taking space away from struggling brands and giving it to hot-selling ones," industry sources told ABC News in September.

Former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Anson Frericks told ABC News that shelf space is "the single largest determinant of sales in a store."

"During a busy shopping period on a Friday or Saturday night, if you don't have the beer available cold on the shelf, consumers pick something else," Frericks explained. "There will be a dramatic shift."

Dave Williams – vice president of analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting – added, "There's explosive growth on one side and sharp decline on the other. This does have that ripple effect where if Bud Light loses space on the shelf, that could make it a longer-term endeavor to claw back to where they were if they're ever able to do that in the first place."

In July, a survey found that Bud Light is no longer one of the top 10 beers in America following the Dylan Mulvaney controversy. In the second quarter of 2023, Bud Light was tied for the 14th-ranked beer brand with a 42% popularity rating. Bud Light was tied with Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

Anheuser-Busch allegedly did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the New York Post.

Anheuser-Busch waded into a culture war in April when Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The move to promote the LGBTQ activist has cost Bud Light and the Anheuser-Busch parent company with declining sales, revenue, and market share.

The advertising partnership sparked outrage, backlash, and boycotts of Bud Light.

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Amid Bud Light fiasco fallout, DeSantis calls for review of how Florida State Board of Administration's AB InBev holdings have been impacted: 'All options are on the table'



Bud Light ignited a massive and sustained firestorm of negative public sentiment by enlisting transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to advertise the beer brand, and now, months into the public backlash, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for the Florida State Board of Administration to launch a review into how Anheuser-Busch's actions impacted the worth of SBA's AB InBev holdings.

"It has come to my attention that the State Board of Administration (SBA) currently holds global equity assets with Anheuser-Busch InBev," DeSantis noted in a message to SBA Interim Executive Director Lamar Taylor. "As you well know, AB InBev's performance has plummeted since its decision to associate its Bud Light brand with radical social ideologies. That fateful decision has transformed America's formerly best-selling beer — and one of InBev's best-performing assets — into a commercial pariah."

DeSantis requested for a review to be initiated "to examine how AB InBev's conduct has impacted and continues to impact the value of SBA's AB InBev holdings. It appears to me that AB InBev may have breached legal duties owed to its shareholders, and that a shareholder action may be both appropriate and necessary. To protect SBA and the retirees of Florida from losses attributable to AB InBev's disregard of those duties, all options are on the table," DeSantis noted in the letter.

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Anheuser-Busch has failed to quench the raging fires of negative sentiment in the months that have elapsed since the initial wave of public outrage erupted earlier this year.

DeSantis, who won re-election during the Sunshine State's 2022 gubernatorial primary, is currently running for president. Former President Donald Trump maintains a large lead over the field, and DeSantis is trailing Trump in a distant second place.

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Bud Light is no longer America's best-selling beer after boycott, Wall Street analysts warn Anheuser-Busch faces 'permanent' damage



Bud Light has been dethroned as the king of beers in the United States following a widespread boycott.

CBS News reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev sold $297 million of Bud Light for the four-week period ending on May 28 — tumbling 23% from the same duration from the previous year, according to consumer-behavior analytics firm Circana.

Meanwhile in the same time period, Modelo Especial beer raked in $333 million in sales, jumping 15% over the past year.

Bill Newlands, the chief executive officer of Constellation, told Newsweek of becoming the best-selling beer in the country, "We thought that would take a little longer. We've been very fortunate that, that's gone a little quicker than we had anticipated. But what a great position to be in on the beer side."

Modelo Especial was the second-fastest-growing beer brand in 2022, according to data from Circana/IRI.

Modelo Especial was first brewed in 1925 and is part of Grupo Modelo. In 2013, Anheuser-Busch InBev sold Grupo Modelo brands Modelo and Corona to Constellation Brands as part of a $2.9 billion deal.

Sales of Bud Light have declined for seven consecutive weeks after transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney promoted the beer brand on Instagram — which ignited a consumer boycott.

Without a course correction, experts warn that slumping sales could be "permanent," thus hurting the entire Anheuser-Busch InBev corporation.

Analysts at global asset management firm Bernstein warned that Anheuser-Busch InBev should expect a "permanent 15% haircut" to Bud Light sales. The Wall Street research firm also lowered AB InBev's overall 2023 profit forecast by 6.7% after the Bud Light boycott.

The Drinks Business reported, "Going forward, analysts from financial services company Jeffries have said that the 'Bud Light saga may endure.' It said that within their survey of beer distributors some 65% believed that 'protracted Bud Light demand weakness' is 'expected to linger' with an expectation the controversy could last more than six months. A third of respondents believed there could be a 'permanent lapse in Bud Light consumers' as well."

Dave Williams, vice president of analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, told CBS MoneyWatch, "Unless Bud Light starts to experience a serious course correction in terms of performance, which can only come from consumers finding their way back into the brand family, then that firm grip on the No. 1 rank by year-end loosens a bit more every week."

Sales supervisors revealed that Bud Light sales for the week ending on Memorial Day plummeted by as much as 60%.

A sales supervisor told ABC News, "This has really, really killed a lot of the guys who are commission-based. That's who it's really hurting. There's nothing they could've done – this was thrown in their faces."

Williams told Fox Business, "I think a lot of Anheuser-Busch distributors have been working exceptionally hard to communicate to their local communities that it wasn’t their fault. And once they clearly stated that this was not on them, I think their strong relationships in retail and with the local communities began to resonate."

Anheuser-Busch InBev hsa lost as much as $27 billion in market value since Mulvaney promoted the brand on social media.

Bud Light has also faced boycotts from the LGBTQ community for not fighting against the conservative backlash.

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