WEEK 44--the story of MACRO & Micro( part 1/2)

It maybe a bit "late" now to still talk about the matter--but it's still an interesting one to voice out for the newsppaper readers --who probably don't have a clue as to what happened...(中文全文请往下看)

MACRO BEER---the word sort of  became the "bud" of joke along with some other key words early this month for the craft beer community.( if you have not seen the ad--go see on youtube)

This very much self-inflicted joke came from one of the commercial beer big boys--BUD--an ad aired during the US Super Bowl finals--which obviously cost lots of USD--but laughed about for it's very weak mocking of the craft community.

While saying"people who drink our beer are people who like to drink beer"--typical "feel good" advertising statement amongst others----what irked was the mocking of craft beer....

By saying all that was said in the ad---craft community is being painted as a bunch of fussy nerds.

In marketing terms--there's comparison method--or the lower level of "saying something bad about others in order to make yourself look better".

Bud--while trying to differentiate MACRO beer and craft beer--by way of mocking---has largely been seen as public display of "fear"---fear for it's own market erosion--as well fear for the growing influence of craft beer on the US beer market--figures compiled by the US Brewers association showed that  in 1998--the big boys hold about 89% of the beer market--in 2013 it dropped to 78%...while craft beer grown from 2.6% in 1998 to close to 8% in 2013.

the ad look more and  more like ringing it's own alarm bell than anything else.....

BEER IS FOR DRINKING--NOT DISSECTING

one of the key messages from the ad---which is trying to say--"it's just a bloody beer, just drink up, nothing to be serious about...."

just look around---why would people chose to eat at a particular shop for a bowl of Wanton noodles--sometimes even to far away places--isn't it just a same bloody bowl of noodles?

just like each shop has got different way of preparing the noodles, sauce, or even some secrets formula--consumers would know what's best for them--and rightly so.

beer is certainly not just one dimensional yellow fizzy drink---to say beer is just for drinking and nothing else...it's just sounding shallow---even to the tune of terrified.

MACRO BEER

大啤酒意思。这是近期备受撞意啤迷嘲笑字眼。

点起火头的是美国“超级大厂”百威啤酒，在高收视率美国橄榄球超级碗大赛中，花了数百万美元播放广告，说自家啤酒是“艰辛酿制”，“喜欢我们啤酒就是喜欢啤酒的人”等自夸自赞说词。

重点是，广告也出现“让他们喝南瓜桃子啤去”，啤酒不是“酿来被挑剔”，不需要“被分析研究”等字眼画面。

很明显，广告意图嘲弄撞意啤酒群体，把喜欢喝CRAFT BEER的描绘成自以为是，走火入魔一群。

市场行销手法中，“对比手法”或更低级的“说别人坏话抬高自己”是惯见事。

广告播出后，很大程度上被啤迷视为“示弱”表现。攻击至今仍是市场“小玩家”的撞意啤酒群体只能显示大企业对日渐成长的撞意啤酒文化感到害怕。

美国酿酒协会数据显示，1998年大厂啤酒占据整个市场89%，美国本土撞意啤酒只有2.6%。2013年数据出现变化，美国大厂啤酒市场份额跌至78%，本土撞意啤酒则上升至8%左右。（换算成钞票的话，8%市场份额大概美金150亿左右）

过去的美国市场数据显示两个令大厂啤酒商担忧的走势，1.整体喝啤酒的人数在下跌，2.更多人放弃单调无趣大厂金黄浅啤，转喝变化多端有趣好玩撞意啤酒。

这次超级碗广告看来比较像美国大厂啤酒在敲自己警钟。

BEER IS FOR DRINKING, NOT DISSECTING

这是广告重点词之一。

意思是，啤酒嘛，喝掉就好，干嘛分析这个味道，那个口感，研究什么轻重酒体这么麻烦。。。

打个比喻，就像是说，市面上那么多卖云吞面的，干嘛要大老远跑到特定那家去吃？不就只是一碗面？

啤酒，当然不只黄澄澄一攤气泡水那么简单。

就像云吞面用什么酱油，面条怎么打，独家秘方之类，每家都有自己方式，消费者也会心中有把尺。同样道理，放在类别繁多撞意啤酒，更是明显。

啤酒只需大口喝，不必分析研究？听起来避重就轻，有心虚感觉。

NEXT WEEK--of micro & CBC 2015