Tim Arnold today offered some harsh words for Budweiser's recent advertising campaigns. 

He didn't like the Bud ad of guys using different handshakes. (Watch it here.)

Nor did he care for the one of guys kidding about clothes and mustaches. (Watch it here.)

He sees a common thread in these spots, which carried the tagline "It's what we do."

As he explained it: "Name one other marketer who portrays their customers as dips--ts."

Wow.

Now, one guy dissing Budweiser ads might not be terribly compelling.

But Arnold has a claim to legitimacy. He helped launch one of the most successful ad campaigns of all-time -- "For All You Do, This Bud's For You." (You can still hear the tune in your head, can't you?) Arnold was with former St. Louis ad agency D'Arcy, which for years produced some of the most memorable A-B ads. (The last one the agency made, before the A-B account was taken from them, was the Bud-Weis-Er bullfrogs.)

Arnold was back in his hometown giving the keynote address at the Integrated Marketing Summit, held at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Lager Heads was there, along with 175 marketing professionals.

The talk was titled "New (Old) Rules: How Budweiser and Bud Light can get back to selling beer."

Everyone knows Budweiser is in trouble. Market share for The King of Beers has been in free fall for years.

Recently, Anheuser-Busch declared war, having "drawn in a line in the sand," as A-B president Dave Peacock put it. Plenty of effort and dollars will be spent on reviving Budweiser.

The clearest signal yet: the brand new "Grab Some Buds" ad campaign and a massive marketing push that kicked off late last month.

(Watch "Grab Some Buds" here.)

And it was with this latest effort that, Arnold said, he saw hope. 

Selling beer means selling emotion, he said. Beer is sold on a mass scale because of how consumers relate to and feel about the product.

And that "emotional gravitas" used to be at the heart of Budweiser's success.

He played for the audience a classic "This Bud's For You" ad, featuring a baseball umpire working his way through the minors to finally reaching the majors, where a team manager buys him a Budweiser after his first game in the show. (Watch it here. Have a tissue ready.)

That ad had great "emotional gravitas," Arnold said. It celebrated the beer drinker. 

What it didn't have was lots of laughs. And so much of beer marketing these days is about guffaws.  Look at just about any Bud Light ad. (Of course, that brand has been doing great, longterm. But in the last two years, sales have been down.)

Like with the Budweiser handshake ad, "this just feels like ridicule" of the beer drinker, Arnold said.

For that reason, he didn't like a celebrated Bud Light ad about an office clothing drive. (Watch it here.) The ad got plenty of attention, but it didn't make drinkers want to be associated with the brand.

"Beer is not for morons," he said.

So back to "Grab Some Buds." Arnold played the ad -- all quick shots of people getting ready to celebrate, with a ballgame or a barbecue or a night out. The music soared. With no words, it was about emotion.

"Where's the dips--ts?" Arnold asked when the ad ended.

Arnold said this was good step for A-B. Budweiser faces many challenges. Marketing is not its only problem. But by relying on the emotional connection, the brand has a shot.

It might not be "This Bud's For You," but it's a move in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Arnold,  was in St. Louis today.