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Part 1: What It Takes to Stay Close to the Customer Today

Why it is strategically so very important to be engaged in a very real and ongoing conversation with your customers today!

By David WyldPublished 5 years ago 9 min read
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No doubt, Tom Peters has been the most influential author on my career as a strategic management consultant and professor. His breakout book was entitledIn Search of Excellence. It was first published in 1982, way back in the days before there was an Amazon and before every physical bookstore had rows and rows of business books by the likes of John Maxwell, Steven Covey, and a whole slew of management and financial gurus.

In Search of Excellence was based on Tom Peters' (along with his coauthor, Robert H. Waterman, Jr.) years of research on the top American companies of the day, and it had important advice for managers on just what it takes to make a company great. The book has been named one of the most influential business and management books of all time in a number of surveys and has definitely had a lasting impact on strategic management and marketing now for decades. In the end, however, the success and popularity of In Search of Excellence was really transformative in building the idea that business books could be informative and yet, interesting and even somewhat fun, reads! Indeed, the book was judged to be an important force in developing the whole notion of a popular business press!

Since the early 1980s, also when I walked uphill (both ways, of course) through the snow to college in the badlands of East Texas, In Search of Excellence was required reading in probably a half dozen classes. In the days before Google and Wikipedia became the modern students' best friend, having to read the same book for multiple classes was basically the best luck a student could have "back in the day." So, I became a Tom Peters "expert," as I got to use my "Mental SparkNotes" on In Search of Excellence time and time and time again during my time as an undergraduate, even extending into my graduate years and beyond.

While there were a number of important and groundbreaking ideas that came out of Peters and Waterman's book, perhaps no one concept has had as much of a lasting impact as what is single, simple—really plainly evident—notion. This is the concept that businesses should be—or rather they need to be—"close to the customer." What do their customers need? What do they truly value? What will they pay for—and how much? How do you answer such questions? The answer is amazingly simple: You just ask them!

And so this simple idea has birthed an entire industry! While there was undoubtedly interest in getting to know your customers—and your potential customers—before the publication of In Search of Excellence, in the decades that have followed, we have seen companies create whole new ways and make use of the newest and highest of high tech in order to get ever closer to their customers. We have seen consulting firms and market research companies become specialized and adept at helping businesses, both large and small, to know what their customers think about them—their products, their service, their brand, and their company. From toll-free phone support to websites to online customers surveys to chatbots and more, the drumbeat goes on and on and on to find new and innovative ways to let companies know what their customers are thinking and how to use that knowledge to the organization's benefit.

And now, I would say that the pressure is on for companies to get even closer to their customers. In fact, a whole new notion is being advanced: It's not enough just to be close to your customers—today, you need to be damn near intimate with them—to be practically inside their heads. It is not enough to know what they were thinking a week ago. Today, the question is what are they thinking right now? What is important to them today—and what can you do right now that will motivate them to buy more of my product or use more of my service today—and tomorrow!

Anheuser-Busch and the Quest for Relevancy Over the Years

The Budweiser brand, through the years, has always seemed to have its finger on the pulse on the American marketplace and "know" the American consumer. From ever-broadening its line of brands to meet the changing tastes and consumption patterns (gather round kids and let grandpa tell you about the days before we had "light" beer!) to creating cutting-edge, and often highly relevant, even poignant, advertising, Anheuser-Busch has been one of the great marketing success stories in all of American business. They have created many iconic campaigns and commercials over the decades. They were even a pioneer in knowing the critical nature of focusing your branding and marketing efforts around Super Bowl ads. That began with the Bud Bowl...

An "Action Shot" from One of the Early Bud Bowls!

In 1989, Anheuser-Busch created what was—for its time—a high-tech ad (ads like those below that kids of today, now some three decades later, would likely laugh at uncontrollably in an age of fantasy-level, computer generated realities) out of a team of Budweiser beer bottles playing football against a team of Bud Light bottles in the Bud Bowl (and yes kiddos, that one idea carried over through almost a decade worth of Super Bowls!). And back then, there were only two brands—Budweiser and Bud Light—in the Anheuser-Busch stable (hard to believe walking down the supermarket aisle today, eh?)

Now aside from all of its creative ads to push-sell more beer over the years, Anheuser-Busch was also known how to capture the sentiment of the moment—perfectly in the eyes of many advertising experts, critics, and academics over the years. Witness what many have described as the "perfection" of its ad for the February 2002 Super Bowl to capture the mood of the nation at a unique moment in time. Airing only once—so as to not be seen as exploitative in any way—the company used the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales in an ad as a memorable tribute to those lost just a few months prior in the 9/11 attacks.

Along the same lines, the company also uses the expensive advertising real estate that is the Super Bowl—the modern American holiday—to help build an even stronger brand identity by highlighting its very real social responsibility efforts. Witness that for the 2018 Super Bowl, the company ran a Budweiser advertisement that had nothing to do with beer—or even selling beer or any other beverage. Instead, the ad showed how the company shifts some of its production in times of need from producing Budweiser to canned water.

According to The Street, the company has provided almost 80 million cans of water to communities across the country reeling from the impact of natural disasters. And the 2018 "Big Game" came on the heels of a historically bad—and deadly—2017 hurricane season (in the Houston area, on the Florida coast, and worst of all, in Puerto Rico). In response, the company, working with the American Red Cross, distributed some 3 million canned water products to people in the three affected areas. Thus, the Budweiser ad was a great way of highlighting the company's commitment to being a good corporate citizen and a socially responsible—and caring—company (and a program which continues to expand today).

Anheuser-Busch has thus long been regarded as a company that is, no doubt, close to its customers. However, today, the company, now known as Anheuser-Busch InBev, is pursuing a strategy to be even closer to their customers than ever before, seeing this as crucial to stay relevant in today's hypercompetitive alcoholic beverage market. Like all companies, the company faces the challenge of competing in an increasingly noisy and distracted marketplace for consumers—and for their attention. They've been good—maybe great—in their proud marketing past. Now, the company behind the Budweiser family of brands—which, oh by the way, just happens to now be the world's largest brewer—feels the need to be even better—and even closer to the customer than ever before!

And so in the second part of this article, we will examine how this renowned marketer—Anheuser-Busch InBev—in employing a new, innovative, and intensive, strategy to try and be close—really close—to its customers! We will discuss both the how's and why's behind their massive effort to stay relevant to today's consumers, and we will explore how this has produced advertising that is definitely "in tune" with what is at the forefront of the mind of it customers—both in terms of beer, but also tying their brands and brand name to trending news and to growing social responsibility concerns at the forefront of the minds of consumers.

In doing so, the world's largest beer company is getting ever closer to its customers—and yes, almost intimate with them! They are using tools that Peters and Waterman simply could not have dreamed of when In Search of Excellence was first published in the 1980s! What you will see is a massive commitment on the part of Anheuser-Busch InBev to be relevant and connected—constantly connected—with the consumers of its various beer brands. However, the results of this strategy for the company are clear: The return on investment (ROI) on "connectedness" is significant. And as such, Anheuser-Busch InBev's approach to what it will take to be successful in marketing to today's—and tomorrow's—consumers stands as an excellent example for managing the marketing efforts of any size firm today in really any type of consumer-facing industry today.

In the second part of the article, we will discuss the implications of Anheuser-Busch InBev's new, intense approach to being close—really close—to their customers. We will then outline steps managers and executives—in firms of all sizes—can and should follow this company's successful approach to be more closely connected with their customers.

About David Wyld

David Wyld ([email protected]) is a Professor of Strategic Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, publisher, executive educator, and experienced expert witness. He is the founder and publisher of both The IDEA Publishing (The Best in News, Information and Content Marketing) and Modern Business Press (The Best in Academic Journals).

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About the Creator

David Wyld

Professor, Consultant, Doer. Founder/Publisher of The IDEA Publishing (http://www.theideapublishing.com/) & Modern Business Press (http://www.modernbusinesspress.com)

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