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COPYRIGHT 2005 Bev-AL Communications, Inc.
Popular beers were popular many years ago when simplicity and affordability in beers were the norm. Last year the category saw a decline of 5.1% in case sales to 264.8 million 2.25-gallon cases. The theme over the past few years across all beverage alcohol segments has been consumers trading-up to more exclusive, affluent and luxury alternatives. The higher-priced beer offerings in the premium, superpremium, craft and import categories continue to take away case sales from the popular segment. This trend began to affect the popular beer segment years ago, and there seem to be no help in sight for a segment that once owned a much larger share of the beer industry. In 1988 popular beers held a 22.7% share of all beer consumed in the U.S. Five years ago that number was 12.7% and in 2004 it only holds a 9.3% share of the beer market.
Busch, the category leader with a 35.1% share of the segment, posted its sixth consecutive year of declines in 2004. Even though the brand has declined annually, its decline over the past five years pales in comparison with some of its peers. Despite the brands downward performance. Anheuser-Busch continues to invest dollars to advertise its namesake. In 2004, advertising for the brand reached $12.0 million, an 11.1% decline from 2003's $13.5 million ad budget. A great deal of ad spending for Busch beer continues to be spent in support of second-tier NASCAR Busch series races that take place prior to the premier Nextel Series events.
Despite Busch's spot as the category leader, it's Miller Brewing that boasts the largest share of the popular segment. Its four brands, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best, Red Dog and Harem's, account for 41.2% of the popular beer market. Miller discontinued Meister Brau, a brand synonymous with affordable beer, last year following years of declines. All of Miller's popular priced brands lost cases last year. The second best-selling brand in the category, Miller High Life, once a premium offering, fell 2.1% to end the year at 71 million cases. This is the second year of declines for the brand that fluctuated at the low 70 million case level for a quite a few years. Ad outlays continue to remain at high levels for Miller High Life. In 2004, Miller spent 513.3 advertising High Life, a 5.4% increase versus 2003. Miller spent $1.9 million advertising Milwaukee's Best, following no ad expenditures for the brand in 2003. The infusion of advertising to the brand did not result in case gains. Milwaukee's Best continued its descent in 2004, declining 9.4% to 29 million cases.
The next two leading brands are from Pabst Brewing and posted opposite results last year. Old Milwaukee lost 22.4% last year falling to 19.0 million cases despite an increase in advertising outlays from $24,300 to $130,000. The next Pabst brand, and the only leading popular brand tracked to post a positive case gain in 2004, was Pabst Blue Ribbon. The brand increased 16.8% last year climbing to 17.4 million cases, despite advertising expenditures declining 23.2% to $215,000. Pabst Blue Ribbon continues to garner success with its "keeping it real" with the working man advertising campaign. The brand is clearly enjoying resurgence with three consecutive years of case increases. Among leading brands, Pabst Brewing contributes the greatest number of entries to the popular category with eleven, in spite of the number of brands, Pabst still only holds a 20.7% share of the popular beer market. This is due to the fact that Pabst Blue Ribbon is the only brand to post a gain over the past five years.
Keystone is Molson Coors sole brand in the popular category, The brand was introduced...
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