How do you build brands people love? That was the question Marcel Marcondes, Global CMO at AB InBev, put to the audience as he took the Cannes stage on Tuesday morning. Because if you want to grow organically, it all comes down to building the brand, he said – and he pointed to a few key factors behind their own brand development.
1. People
People always have to come first. Companies are made up of people. But companies also exist to serve people.
That means you have to know the people you’re there for. So InBev has lots of (useful!) data and analysis to get to know the market.
But it’s not just about stats and tables. It’s also about getting close to your customers. That’s why every member of the company’s leadership team is required to spend at least 30 hours a year face-to-face with consumers. That way, you know how they think. Why and when they drink beer, for example.
These insights have been the foundation for everything they’ve then built into their communication.
2. Focus
AB InBev’s portfolio includes over 500 brands. 20 of them generate more than a billion dollars a year.
But it’s only 4 or 5 brands that drive 80 percent of the company’s growth.
Marcel Marcondes describes them as megabrands, and the ambition is to build brands that people would actually miss if they disappeared.
Back in 2019, the “Havas Meaningful Brands” study found that most people wouldn’t care at all if 77 percent of all brands vanished tomorrow.
So AB InBev is aiming to make sure its brands are in the remaining 23 percent.
So how do you pull that off?
Marcel Marcondes explained how they’ve concentrated their efforts and taken a long-term approach.
“We cut investment in the smaller brands and moved it over to our Megabrands. After a few years, we could see the effects,” he explained, pointing to Kantar’s latest BrandZ report, where Corona is the world’s most valuable beer brand.
In fact, 8 of the world’s 10 most valuable beer brands are in AB InBev’s portfolio.
3. Create more exciting experiences
Marcel Marcondes also noted that we now live in a time when experiences are at the centre of everything. He referenced a conversation he’d had with marketing professor Scott Galloway, who pointed out that young adults today are the first adult generation that isn’t saving up to pay down a mortgage. They’re saving up to buy tickets to Taylor Swift concerts.
For InBev, that means working to create exciting experiences, and planning the year around events that fit the brand’s profile.
And it was with some pride that he announced Corona is now the first beer brand ever to get the chance to sponsor the Olympics. Corona Cero, of course.
4. Make creativity that delivers
“Creativity has to have a purpose. It doesn’t exist just for its own sake,” Marcel Marcondes pointed out, reminding the audience that creativity’s job is to solve consumer and business problems.
For that to work, he stressed how important it is to have a really close and transparent partnership with your agencies.
“Building a brand is like a marriage. You have to take risks – but to dare to do that, you need trust. And you have to give it time!”
He talked about the agencies they work with as their elite forces.
“And once you’ve managed to create something that works, you have to keep going. Don’t switch lanes for no good reason,” he said.
It’s always the company and the agencies that get tired first, not the consumers. So you need to be strong enough to recognise that – and just keep going.
5. Create growth
Focus and the long game. There are, of course, plenty of studies and reams of research showing this is central if you want to build profitability and growth. But far from everyone actually lives by those insights. Far more than the ones who become megabrands, in other words.
“We have to make sure that what we do is building stronger brands,” Marcel Marcondes concluded.
That’s the whole point of your marketing investment – and that means thinking long-term.
He was also proud to share that AB InBev hit an all-time revenue high in 2023.
“If we get it right, we’ve earned ourselves a beer!” he summed up – and as the audience left the auditorium, anyone who wanted one was handed a bottle of Corona. Cero, of course.
