I started seeing the TV commercials a couple of months ago. Slightly overweight, slightly older men, doing what men do (watching football, barbecuing, etc.). The voice-over guy comes on to say, “Gusto is back” as the beer that made Milwaukee famous, Schlitz, is back.
I’m a self-confessed beer snob. I buy those micro-brew India Pale Ales, pricey double-bocked German lagers, and spiced pumpkin ales during the winter. Quite a turnaround from my college days of ten years ago where a 12-pack of Miller Lite for $6.99 was just fine for me. I’m not the only beer snob in my family or circle of friends, but I’m one of the few who doesn’t mind a good old-fashioned blue-collar beer every now and then. And for me, now is a good time to like those beers.
Blue-collar beers are making a comeback. Born in upstate New York, Genesee Cream Ale is my poor man’s poison of choice. Further north you’ll find Black Label and Narragansett returning to store shelves. In the Midwest it’s Old Style and Falstaff joining the legions of cans of Old Milwaukee and Pabst Blue Ribbon. So why the sudden influx of these less-than-finely hand-crafted brews once thought dead in the 1980s? Well, there’s a number of reasons, and the first is money.
The cost of living is higher, and salaries and wages aren’t necessarily following the trend. What’s a beer drinker to do? If you absolutely have to have some beer in your fridge, you can’t splurge $13 or $14 every week for a 12-pack of the usual micro-brew stuff. Especially since a 12-pack of Genesee (bottles OR cans!) is just $7 after taxes. But the money aspect has more than the economy on its side. Most beer drinkers start drinking when they’re 15 or 16, or if you’re good you at least wait until college to start. If you’ve been through college you know some times you only have $20 a week to spend on groceries and other necessities, so in comes the cheap beer and that special micro-brew beer will just have to wait until you get a job. Besides, who wants pumpkin ale with Ramen noodles?
With such a young base of drinkers looking for cheap stuff, beer that’s even cheaper than the college-standard Miller Lite and Budweiser, major breweries have an incredible fan base to tap with these old names. And this generation of young folks, with their i-pods and blogs, has no shame in dabbling in historic stuff. Retro is in, as evidenced by sports teams bringing back jerseys and logos from 50 years ago or movies like Transformers getting made into summer blockbusters. So it would make sense for a tried and true brand like Schlitz, to return to the market with this new generation of consumers eager to snatch it up like all those other “retro beers”. But here lies the problem: Schlitz’s ad campaign says everything BUT that.
I passed by a billboard today advertising Schlitz. Besides the usual “Gusto is Back” campaign, I saw the line, “Gentlemen under 55 need not apply”. I nearly drove off the road in shock to the campaign. While most of Schlitz’s hardcore drinkers probably are 55 or older, why would Schlitz (brewed by the Pabst Brewing Company) go out of its way to discourage 20 or 30-somethings from drinking their product? Does Schlitz really think there is a line in the sand, daring younger people to cross to try their brew? I’m not seeing it. And maybe it’s because at 29 (and very soon to be 30) I have no desire to be my father’s age (very soon to be 65). I look forward to my older, senior years, but when I reach them! Not now while I’m still young, spry, and able to weight lift in the morning without throwing my back out.
I’m not even sure Schlitz is sure at who they’re going after. One trip to the Schlitz page at the Pabst Brewing website shows this confusing description of what Schlitz is:
Schlitz is one of the undiscovered gems of American beer and today, young adult consumers are embracing the brew because it has stayed true to itself and hasn’t “sold out”. When you’re ready to discover something new (or old in this case), reach for a Schlitz and see what we mean when we say it’s “Just the Kiss of Hops”.
First, this sounds like something painfully written by a 46-year-old guy pretending to be 16. Young adult consumers are embracing Schlitz because it hasn’t “sold out”?!? NO THEY’RE NOT! THEY’RE EMBRACING IT BECAUSE IT’S CHEAP! This curious description of the beer undercuts the current ad campaign. Young adult consumers are embracing the beer, but Schlitz doesn’t want anyone under 55 to enjoy it? This ad campaign is further undercut by the website Schlitz then sends you to.
Go ahead, click on the “advertising” link. Amongst the collection of classic and new Schlitz ad campaigns, old-timey background music is playing. Now I like classical jazz and big band music, but some of this stuff is MUCH older than 55 years old. I’d be willing to venture some of this music is 70 or 80 years old, which would make the majority of Schlitz’s target audience DEAD.
The ad campaign still confuses me, and the conflicting messages on the billboards and the websites confuses me even more. Perhaps it’s as simple as Pabst targeting Schlitz for older drinkers while keeping Pabst Blue Ribbon securely in the hands of younger drinkers. If that’s the case, that’s a smart business move by Pabst. But in terms of advertising, I think Schlitz is missing the boat here. While the baby boomer generation is growing into the largest consumer demo in the nation, a perfect audience for Schlitz, excluding the younger crowd will likely make Schlitz a dinosaur again in 10 or 15 years.