For weeks now, America has been on pins and needles watching the ever-lasting struggle between America’s own Budweiser and the foreign InBev in their epic battle on who will become victorious. It looks today that InBev finally got the better of the Budweiser shareholders forcing Auggie to engage in friendly conversations with the management of the bitter rival InBev thwarting an imminent hostile takeover. Another great American company losing the great fight. But what could have been done differently? How could they have stopped this maelstrom of repute?
When looking through the marketing eyeglass, many companies, such as Budweiser, see the company goal as increasing the number of consumers and consumption to increase the bottom line which will make the shareholders money. This view is completely outward facing, not giving any thought to the meaning and feeling the shareholders may have about the reason for their investment.
With that being said, Budweiser could have easily won this battle the moment the word InBev was muttered in the halls in St Louis by taking a global approach with customer engagement. Every company has many customers (the user, the shareholder, the employee, the community, etc.) that need to be addressed in a specific targeted marketing campaign. Budweiser should have had a targeted marketing campaign going towards the shareholder engagement for many, many years now creating more than just a monetary investment, but an emotional and behavioral investment that increases the value of the stock to a human level.
This simple customer engagement turned human attachment to the investment would have given Budweiser the shareholder artillery it needed to fight off the Goliath InBev at the very drop of the name. Now, the sale has become imminent due to the monetary incentives the shareholders are to gain with no thought or feeling whatsoever to the emotional aspect of what the sale means.
In conclusion, emotions and behaviors are the reasons people do what they do. If Budweiser would have created shareholder emotional and behavioral attachments to their investments, selling their stock would be like getting rid of a lucky t-shirt or the ever-coveted baseball card collection. We all need to look at and engage each and every customer increasing the attachment and affliction for our brand. You never know when InBev will try to buy your company.
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