Accidental Hedonist

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Yes, another Vimeo video. However, this is a test, as I’m trying to see how to connect such a video to a spotlight position.

There is an additional bonus here, as the data in the vimeo video shows how a few motivated individuals can reshape  a corporate landscape. The future of American enterprise lies somewhere within the model that the craft brewers have shown us.

Nielsen, the data group which counts everything from web page views, to how many people watch American Idol, have determined the top 10 beer holidays in the United States in 2009, based on sales of cases of beer in the two weeks prior to the Holiday. The results may surprise you a bit.

10. St. Patrick’s Day – Sales: 48.7 million cases

9. Easter – Sales: 50.7 million cases

8. Halloween – Sales: 50.9 million cases

7. Christmas – Sales: 52.8 million cases

6. Thanksgiving – Sales: 52.9 million cases

5. Cinco de Mayo -Sales: 54 million cases

4. Father’s Day – Sales: 57.7 million cases

3. Labor Day – Sales: 60.2 million cases

2. Memorial Day – Sales: 61.0 million cases

1. Fourth of July – Sales: 63.5 million cases

For the record, they don’t count Super Bowl Sunday as a Holiday, but if we were, it would end up in between St. Patrick’s Day and Easter, with 49.2 million cases sold.

As I never miss a chance to take a cheap shot at corporate companies who deliver mediocre to poor products, let me give a hearty, yet sarcastic, salute to the folks at Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company.

It seems as if these companies are in a bit of a rut of late. There are several reasons for their decline, including a marketplace continually shifting to wine and spirits as well as losing ground to higher-end imports and artisinal brewers.

But this market share loss is simply the result of a much larger issue. As Tom Long, Miller’s chief marketing officer, mentioned in this article, “the beer industry itself is to blame for its recent troubles. The recent trend to more lowbrow humor has brought down the industry’s image in the eyes of the public, and that a lack of brand differentiation constitutes an “ocean of sameness” in consumers’ minds”.

Or to put it another way, Budweiser = Miller = Coors. All of which taste like watered down barley water with a bit of an alcoholic kick. As the Canadian joke goes (if you’ll pardon the vulgarity) — “How is American Beer like making love in a canoe? It’s fucking close to water.”

The other issue is that these beers are marketed primarily to the “Drunk Sports Fan” crowd, a crowd that a growing number of consumers don’t wish to be associated.

So if you’re having a tall cool one with dinner tonight, tip your glass to these beer dinosaurs. They’re losing sales to local micro-brewers, and I for one, couldn’t be happier.

Technorati Tags: Food & Drink, Beer, Budweiser, Coors, Miller Brewing, Beer sales