Gentlemen, stop your sponsorship: Anheuser-Busch to end Hot Rod deals
In an effort to freshen its appeal to young adults, Anheuser-Busch plans to end Budweiser’s decades-long sponsorship of the National Hot Rod Association after the 2009 season. It will also drop out of the primary sponsorship of Kenny Bernstein Racing and the Budweiser Top Fuel dragster.
Budweiser has sponsored the NHRA since the early 1980s and is marking its 30th season with Kenny Bernstein Racing. The company said the Budweiser-Bernstein relationship is the longest running in motorsports history.
For its part, Anheuser-Busch said the NHRA and Kenny Bernstein Racing were world-class partners that gave Budweiser a unique opportunity to sell to adult beer drinkers.
Although the Hot Rod deals helped A-B reach sports loyalists, the company is looking for new ways to connect Budweiser with new, young adult consumers. Dubbed “experimenters,” these are folks aged roughly 21-27 who don’t typically drink Budweiser but fiddle around with a wide variety of beers. There is “a whole generation of drinkers” that hasn’t really tried Budweiser, said Dan McHugh, A-B’s vice president of media, sponsorship and activation.
In response, A-B plans to redirect its marketing resources to go after those potential Budweiser drinkers. McHugh said the company will continue to be “a major sports player overall,” with sponsorship deals including NASCAR. The money freed up by ending the Hot Rod deals - the company won’t say how much - could go toward digital marketing or more boots-on-the-ground work, such as sampling efforts. It’s too early to say exactly how the money will be spent, McHugh said in an interview with Lager Heads.
“The one thing we’re doing from a planning standpoint is to create the flexibility to go out there in 2010 and see where we should use these resources,” he said.
In 30 years together, Budweiser and Kenny Bernstein Racing captured six NHRA titles, including four consecutive Funny Car crowns (1985-1988) and two Top Fuel titles (1996, 2001). Kenny and son Brandon amassed 85 national event victories under the Budweiser flag. In 1992, Kenny Bernstein became the first driver to surpass the 300 mile-per-hour barrier.
In a press release, Kenny Bernstein said Budweiser “provided us the opportunity to make a career of doing what we love.”
McHugh said the success and longevity of the Budweiser/NHRA/Bernstein relationship stem from the racing groups’ understanding of the Budweiser brand over the years. He called Kenny Bernstein’s ambassadorship for the brand “nothing short of phenomenal.”
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Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
Anheuser-Inbev, please. The Busches abdicated.
Best wishes to Kenny Bernstein, one of the classiest guys ever.
“For its part, Anheuser-Busch said the NHRA and Kenny Bernstein Racing were world-class partners that gave Budweiser a unique opportunity to sell to adult beer drinkers.”
Is this an admission that Budweiser has been marketed to minors?
I’m guessing there are dozens of sponsorships like the one below that are being discontinued that we are just not aware of.
http://www.statesman.com/horns/content/sports/stories/outdoors/03/05/0305legcol.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=54
Anheuser-Busch to end sponsorship of ______________ (insert sport name). Get used to it.
dont get used to it, get over it.
In an effort to appeal to young adults, they are doing this? This makes no sense… Is Brito hand delivering these scripts? InBev bequeathing old soccer park to try to get MLS team? Complete malarkey!! Keep dishing out that kool-aid though. The headline should have read, InBev Cuts Off Support for St. Louis Soccer, Employees Left Twisting In the Wind. They are cutting and slashing everything because they bought a company that they could not afford. Now we get all this spinning because Inbev has made so many people and businesses angry. I’ve got a public relations tip for InBev, pay your vendors, suppliers, advertisers, media etc… every 30 days like the rest of the civilized business world, and not the barbarian jungle style that you want to swing. That **** doesn’t fly here in the U.S.! InBev is just one of many companies doing business here. Nobody is going to give them special rules. Play the game right or get lost!
Dan McHugh said it best…if you are not part of the 21-27 year old age group or your sport/television show/etc. does not appeal to the age group, they don’t want to reach out to you. You don’t matter anymore. Time to move on to a beer that appreciates the 28+ age group.
Now this worthless company has dumped Kenny Bernstein. Any American who drinks this foreign owned swill should turn in their citizenship and NEVER watch drag racing. ARRGHHH I hate AB INBEV
First Miss Budweiser, now this. Jeffco is in uproar.
This line: “The money freed up by ending the Hot Rod deals - the company won’t say how much - could go toward digital marketing or more boots-on-the-ground work, such as sampling efforts.” is highly questionable. With the InBev method of ‘Zero Based Budgeting’ you don’t automatically get the same amount of money in your budget from one year to the next. So technically, there is no ‘money freed up.’ I’m afraid they’ll just further cut marketing efforts for the flagship Budweiser … sad, sad, sad.