When the most popular beer in the US becomes ordinary.

Brand extension can also be used to downgrade an established brand by upgrading line extensions.

Anheuser-Bush has applied this marketing strategy to it’s famous beer Budweiser. This is probably the most popular beer in the US, but was suddenly downgraded by it’s superior brother Budweiser Select. Budweiser Select claims having all the good things the normal Budweiser has, but with a lower calorie content. The more exclusive, and obviously more expensive, Budweiser Select is now sold next to the ordinary Budweiser, but methinks that this is only temporary.

I expect that sooner or later, maybe after Anheuser-Bush has launched another upgrade on the Budweiser Select, they will announce withdrawing the ordinary, high-calorie Budweiser from the market, as drinking the Budweiser select offers only advantages over drinking the ordinary version.

From that moment, the once so-called superior Budweiser Select, will be the ordinary Anheuser-Bush lager beer. But of course a more expensive one than it’s predecessor.

If this would be the case, brand extension would have been used to make the consumers pay more by obligating them to buy an, up to now, superior beer as if it was an ordinary one.

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2009/10/the-upgraded-brand-extension-threat.html#more

Bram Van Hijfte