AB InBev has identified ‘budget-conscious consumers’ as “the biggest opportunity to be addressed” within ‘infrequent’ beer drinkers and is eyeing both smaller and larger formats to appeal to the group.
Speaking to investors at the company’s ‘capital markets day’ in the US this week, the group’s CMO, Marcel Marcondes, said that affordability has become the most significant barrier for this consumer cohort, which accounts for around one third of AB InBev’s total beer volumes. To tackle this, the group intends to introduce more smaller, cheaper pack formats as well as larger, better-value formats.
Marcondes did not specify which brands could be included in the packaging-innovation drive.
“As we face all-time low consumer sentiment and constraints on disposable income, affordability is the number-one reason to reduce consumption,” he said. “The data shows huge opportunities to make beer more affordable, especially in developing markets.
“To address that, you will see a lot of packaging innovations, both in smaller formats for lower out of pocket as well as larger formats to deliver more for less.”
As well as budget-conscious consumers, AB InBev cited internal research showing female drinkers and younger legal-drinking-age (LDA) consumers as the other two main cohorts within ‘infrequent drinkers’. The former “over index” in ‘Beyond Beer’ brands such as Brutal Fruit and ‘Balanced Choices’ beverages, including lower-calorie & gluten-free Stella Pure Gold – two areas Marcondes said AB InBev plans to “double down on”.
Younger LDA consumers, meanwhile, appear to be gravitating toward AB InBev’s flavoured-beer propositions such as Flying Fish and ‘Beyond Beer’ brands, including Beats and BeatBox RTDs.
Last week, the brewer released details of a halloween-themed marketing drive for Flying Fish, offering an expenses-paid trip to so-called ‘Dracula’s Castle’ – Bran Castle – in Transylvania.
