Announcer:
From the library of the New York stock exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad streets in New York City, you're inside the ICE House, our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange on markets, leadership and vision in global business, the dream drivers that have made the NYSE an indispensable institution for global growth for more than 225 years. Each week, we feature stories of those who hatch plans create jobs and harness the engine of capitalism right here, right now at the NYSE and at ICE's 12 exchanges and seven clearing houses around the world. Now here's your host, Josh King, head of communications at Intercontinental Exchange.
Josh King:
I had one of those classic early summer Sundays last weekend. My son and I got up early, smacked the tennis ball around for a while. We then did some long boarding over quiet Catskill roads, followed by 18 holes of speed golf. After lunch, overlooking 18, it was into the yard for some work. We shored up the dam on a stream to divert more water into our pond. Why am I telling you all this? Because as I finished up with cleaning the garage, I grabbed a Bud to keep me company. Oh, it tasted so good. If you've ever had one of those days that leaves you overheated, but also deserving a cold one, you know what I mean.
Josh King:
One of the companies that's a long time presence here at the New York stock exchange, Anheuser-Busch InBev, NYSE ticker symbol, Bud, for its flagship Budweiser brew, rang the closing bell to kick off summer and launch a new product to help our listeners enjoy the weather. Enjoy it responsibly, of course. Anheuser-Busch, which traces its roots to a Bavarian brewery opened in St. Louis in 1852, has traded under the bud ticker symbol since April 1952. Our guest today, Derek Mock, is here to talk about one of my favorite subjects, beer, and flip the lid on the newest edition to the Budweiser reserve collection, Freedom Reserve red lager, inspired by George Washington's own recipe. Our conversation with Derek right after this.
Speaker 3:
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Josh King:
Derek Mock, senior director for Budweiser, came to Anheuser-Busch InBev from one of the few companies older than Budweiser, Procter and Gamble, NYSE listed as PG since 1929. Derek has led Bud's efforts, rolling out two reserve collection brews with a third on the way. He's also spearheading Budweiser's commitment to moving its operation onto 100% renewable energy by 2025. Welcome to the show, Derek.
Derek Mock:
Thanks for having me.
Josh King:
You were on the podium a few weeks ago when Bud rang the closing bell. How was the experience.
Derek Mock:
It was incredible, right? I've been fortunate to work for now two storied companies who list with you. And since a child growing up in the country, you see legends ringing the bell every day. I think I learned ringing the bell with you guys that it's the number one daily newscast by viewership, which is incredible. So in a word, honored.
Josh King:
Growing up in the country, where was that for you?
Derek Mock:
So I born and raised in Indiana and New York, which is where my wife and I, and soon to be firstborn son, firstborn child, thank you, thank you, she's due anytime, now reside. This is our fifth state together.
Josh King:
When do you think you'll give him his first Bud?
Derek Mock:
When he's 21, of course, unless we're in a country that allows him to have one at 18.
Josh King:
When was your first beer?
Derek Mock:
My first beer was, honest? Was sometime in the college years. But to your point, kicking off the program, everyone needs to be responsible with their alcohol consumption.
Josh King:
Were you always a Budweiser fan growing up? Did you experiment with craft brews or was it the major labels that attracted you?
Derek Mock:
Yeah, great question and fair question.
Josh King:
Yeah.
Derek Mock:
I like trying new beers and new recipes, and I think that's part of what people enjoy in life. People try new foods and people try new drink. And our understanding within the company and certainly for me as a person is that people, no matter where they come from in the world, no matter where you are in the world, have been coming together over food and drink for millennia. And that's really a remarkable thing. It becomes more than just a product. It's part of our culture, right? So the direct answer to your question is I've tried a variety of types of beer, but beer genuinely, I know it sounds contrived or a marketing for the brand right now, but honestly, a beer like Budweiser has a very clear role in my life as one of those choices I keep coming back to on a close to daily, maybe every other day basis. For me, my favorite thing with a Budweiser is with food.
Josh King:
I do too. I mean, I didn't do this, but my best friend, his fraternity, they had to memorize the Budweiser motto as part of their fraternity rush practice. Has the famous Budweiser creed been consistent throughout its history?
Derek Mock:
As far as my understanding, it's been consistent, but I guess what begs the question is, has the creed been consistent on everything it's on? And the answer to that is no, for good reason. So the creed is down to every detail on every package we sell is specialized for what's inside. And so to your point, we're now leading what we're calling the reserve collection. So limited release, specialty lagers to showcase the breadth and beauty of lager as a style of beer. And so down to every single word on the creed and different parts of the crest, the creed is what we often refer to as the top portion of the design on the bottle or can. But every word is chosen in partnership with our brewers to ensure that it articulates the best representation of what you can expect to taste.
Josh King:
Derek, you said you grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Were craft brews and micro brews as popular in the middle part of the country as we know them to have been on the coasts? For me growing up, the first craft beer to get on my radar was Anchor Steam out San Francisco.
Derek Mock:
Sure. Fair question. I think I can speak anecdotally. I would need to go double check the data, but in general terms, I think people choose beer that they feel like grounds them somewhere and represents something either in the situation or occasion that they're in or about something more emotion led, if you will. So in Indiana, people were very proud to be associated with, myself certainly included, with brands that stand for the fabric of American and the American dream and the embodiment they're in, which Budweiser's included in, but also local folks who just aren't as far along in that timeline chasing their dream. Right?
Derek Mock:
If you talk to most folks who are starting a business, they would dream of having the honor of being listed with you guys. They would dream of being successful enough to be distributed nationwide. And frankly, if I were creating a new company, that would be my dream, right? At the end of the day, many of us are creators. We have a company slogan that we are all brewers. And so we do genuinely love beer as you've kicked off, but more than that, many of us create, right? Whether it's creating a new way to reach a consumer through marketing, creating a new sales promotion that you're testing out, creating a new technique in brewing our beer, creating a story that we all get to share in a seasonally relevant way with a reserve collection. So inherent in creation is the desire to share it, right? I believe humans are social creatures and so I think it's natural to do that.
Josh King:
So let's talk about the reserve collection.
Derek Mock:
Sure.
Josh King:
Growing up in Boston, obviously Sam Adams was a brand that we all got to know very well and it's association with history. I mentioned president Washington's connection to your new product during the introduction. Our listeners know that president Washington was sworn in just yards from where you're sitting, right here. The brewing recipe for your new product is based on his 1757 military journal titled To Make Small Beer. How did the recipe come to your brewer's attention?
Derek Mock:
Great question. So part of how you kicked off this segment is that we are fortunate to have the history that we have. And when we look back, Budweiser's been proud to actually have another coincidence in American history. It was brewed originally in 1876, so America's 100th birth year. And what that affords us is an opportunity to tell very unique stories because the brand is very credibly a part of American culture. We employ approximately 18,000 U.S. employees, I believe nearly 14 or 1600 of whom are U.S. veterans. We've supported U.S. veterans for over 100 years.
Derek Mock:
And so in answering your question directly, part of how we've come to better understand brewing culture in America is that actually many of our founding fathers were home brewers themselves. And so they would brew beer with local ingredients often, frankly, without the ability that we are fortunate to have today to really select the nation or the continent, in our case, north America's best barley, for example. And so they brewed with what was local. So one of those unique ingredients that really inspired our brewers on this recipe is black strap molasses. It's difficult to brew with, but it adds a hint of sweetness when balanced properly. And it took our team a number of rounds to get to what we believe is, to your point in starting to segment, a really refreshing beer, but a full flavored medium bodied beer that is a beautiful representation of a red lager.
Josh King:
How did the folks at AB InBev find the original George Washington recipe? And how did the light bulb go off and say, let's try and recreate what the general did in 1757?
Derek Mock:
Sure. So I'll answer that in a couple ways. One, the recipe origin itself, the recipe's publicly available. So what I've heard from you all is that you're very proud to represent public interest in what you do.
Josh King:
Sure.
Derek Mock:
I think a lot of the public's interested in beer, unfortunately, the library system helps with that. How is it available to us or how did it come top of mind to tell a story like this one? When you step back, what the team has been doing really effectively is capturing things that unify in today's marketing environment was something that, again, we are proud to share with so many in America. In Budweiser, we need to find a way to be engaging, to be relevant and importantly, to be unifying. And we are proud to be operating here. We're proud to employ more employees in the U.S. than any other brewer in the U.S. And we brew, I believe, the latest stat is 96 or 98% of what we sell in America, in America. So again, we can fact check me, but directionally, that statement's certainly accurate and we're proud of that.
Derek Mock:
So when you look at what we've been doing, we've been doing things like the Statue of Liberty torch packaging as a summer promotion, the America packaging, which won a number of design awards. And just to clarify for the listeners, those aren't self-serving comments. I was fortunate to inherit that pipeline when I got the chance to join the brand team. But when you unpack that farther, there's a difference between people who try and regularly enjoy Budweiser and people who have not tried it at all. And there's a misperception of the product's quality by some who haven't tried it yet.And Budweiser is a light, flavorful, golden lager with a great balance of refreshment and taste. Okay? And so that means it's a few simple ingredients and it pairs well with nearly any occasion, but it was never brewed to be sipped or sniffed, if you will, over the course of an hour, for example.
Derek Mock:
And so what we found is there's an opportunity to hero lager as a full style by introducing stories that build on the momentum of the brand by building on, for example, the American heritage and history of the brand by building on the 100 years of legacy. And by understanding what that unique way in is, which is for us that we were there during Prohibition and its repeal. And so we started with 1933 repeal reserve, Amber lager, which was inspired by a pre-prohibition archive recipe from Budweiser in the company sense. And we're very pleased with how that turned out. We were very pleased with the reaction. There were a lot of skeptics in the world on, oh, is Budweiser copying craft? No, we're releasing something that's inspired by literally a recipe that we'd already done. And so you're building on the shoulders of those who came before. And the same thing here, where there's an opportunity to tell a story that not a lot of people know, that one of our nations founding father was indeed a home brewer.
Josh King:
So not only was the first president of the United States a home brewer, but the 44th president also has become a home brewer. President Barack Obama created his own brew inside the White House. I think it was an IPA, wasn't it?
Derek Mock:
I don't recall whether it was an IPA, but I do recall the story of him brewing inside the White House.
Josh King:
Let's hear one of Budweiser's spots introducing the new beer and what it tastes like.
Speaker 5:
Introducing the Budweiser Freedom reserve, a limited edition red lager with a light happy aroma, a toasted malt taste, and a hint of molasses. Proudly brewed in support of veterans by Budweiser's own veterans, available this summer for a limited time only.
Josh King:
So Derek Mock, I said in my introduction how I had a classic Budweiser after my long day outside this weekend, but how does this 260 year old recipe differ from the classic?
Derek Mock:
Budweiser classic, as you're referring to it, our flagship product, is known for its sharp clean finish at the back end, which again makes it a perfect accompaniment in that it doesn't overpower a meal. So a red lager is intended to accompany certain meals, but you need to account for it's a bit bolder flavor profile start to finish. And it bends a little sweeter with the toasted grain notes and the molasses hint that you do pick up certainly on the back end of the beer. And so you account for that, right, in any good meal and pairing. Frankly, it's an opportunity for us as a category to remind people that beer pairing throughout the times, if you will, has been more popular than wine pairing with food.
Derek Mock:
But if your listeners are more familiar with wine pairing, it's similar in that you want things to balance out over the course of the total meal, right? That's a human taste experience that's not subject to any specific category within alcohol. So within beer, we're again leveraging reserve collection to showcase lager as a total style, not as a total spectrum within the style and then for its pairings as well. So in this case, we're recommending it with summer barbecue and other things where that sweet is a complimentary note.
Josh King:
So now that I live in New York City, I have to confess that my favorite beer pairing is Indian food.
Derek Mock:
Okay.
Josh King:
Do you pair your beer with Indian Food.
Derek Mock:
Do I? Yes. Well, let me start with, how spicy do you like your food?
Josh King:
A big, spicy Vindaloo.
Derek Mock:
Okay, so absolutely. I think a beer like a Budweiser classic would actually be best with that. In our total portfolio, Stella Artois is great as well. You want something that again is more ... the way to maybe describe lighter in color, call it bright golden lagers is that they're in a sense, a liquid version of bread, right? And bread goes by different names around the world, but essentially it's four or five simple, real ingredients, water, yeast, barley, hops, and sometimes other grains to round it out. In Budweiser's case, it's rice. Rice helps with a crisp, clean finish Budweiser that you'd expect. What's your favorite place to get Indian food from around here?
Josh King:
I go right to Seamless and I usually go to $2 signs, never three.
Derek Mock:
Okay, perfect. So if you're ordering from Seamless, next time you're ordering from Seamless and you're getting that spicy Vindaloo you referred to, you want something that will be light, right? So if you think about a bread that you would pair with any spicy food, again, there's some type of light, simple, essential, real ingredient starch that's paired commonly around the world. Beer can be that and so you had jokingly asked, well, how do you balance staying active and working in beer? Well, part of it's thinking about it as a liquid form of bread, because they share a lot of common ingredients. Yeast is what activates both in part and so there's a lot of overlap.
Derek Mock:
And again, to your point, I'm in marketing, I'm not as technically savvy as some maybe.
Josh King:
You sound very technically savvy to me, Derek.
Derek Mock:
But seriously, I think it's a great beer to pair with that because it helps to round it out. It helps to amplify the carbonation and the liquid helps to amplify a lot of those tastes that you enjoy in that spicy Vindaloo, but it's not going to overwhelm. So what would be very tricky for you is if you paired a spicy Vindaloo with an IPA, really intense competing flavor profiles that aren't necessarily complimentary. I'm sure some, again, listening may disagree, but in general terms, the passion that you spoke about talking about that dish, you want something that'll compliment and amplify and not compete with.
Josh King:
Can I tell you something else?
Derek Mock:
Please.
Josh King:
We'll get back to the Budweiser in a second, but you mentioned Stella Artois.
Derek Mock:
I did.
Josh King:
Because I am a packaging and branding guy, it will not surprise you that probably a decade ago, I sent away for two dozen of this Stella bar glasses with the gold rim on top.
Derek Mock:
Our chalice, yes.
Josh King:
You'll tell me all about those in a second, keep them in my bar cabinet.
Derek Mock:
Okay.
Josh King:
And sometimes with that spicy Vindaloo, I take out the Stella chalice and pour a Stella into it just because it tastes even better in that specific glass. What's going on in my brain?
Derek Mock:
What's going on is two things. One, you've come to expect that pouring ritual with Stella. I'll speak for myself. I don't want to assume for you. For me, that can connote a special occasion. And in fact, anytime I pour a bottle or can into a glass of a Budweiser or a Stella Artois, it connotes a special occasion for me because in the country today, most people don't know that bottles and cans are, in a sense, a miniature keg, and beer is best enjoyed when it's poured. And again, that foam collar, as I mentioned before, helps to release carbonation, which helps you feel less full while you're experiencing that meal. But it also produces aromatics that have, again, in the case of a Budweiser or Stella Artois in the chalice, as you're mentioning, a light hosted aroma that pairs well with that Vindaloo.
Derek Mock:
I think the second part that I alluded to is the expectation of that ritual. So especially in Stella Artois' case, the chalice is really, and the pouring process around that, the head cutting, et cetera, has become a part of cultural almost to mark particularly special events. Even in the course of your day, like a meal.
Josh King:
It was not lost on me as a packaging guy that last summer Budweiser changed its name. But I looked at this can that had all of the familiar hallmarks of a can of Bud. And yet it said along the side, instead of that familiar Budweiser mark, America. Why?
Derek Mock:
Sure. So again, I was fortunate to join the team when that was already underway, but what I can talk to is what I've been proud to see in that execution and the way many people took it and then what we've done since. Budweiser's proudly brewed in 12 brewers across the country, across 11 states. And again, we employ many, many thousands of Americans, right? So what is unifying is our pride in the country we proudly operate in, in America. And when you unpack that more, many people are proud to do that. And we talked before about the emotion plus the function of something like a chalice. It's not a lot different.
Derek Mock:
You describe yourself as a packaging guy. I think a lot of people shopping in any consumer product category would describe themselves as at least influenced or attracted to certain types of packaging. And when you're fortunate to work on a brand with this much heritage and this much broad awareness, part of what our opportunity is, is to remind you of the story that we're proud to tell and that's that we are living embodiments of the American dream, and many of our drinkers are chasing their own version of the American dream.
Derek Mock:
So again, if you look at that package, to your point, the America script replaced with the Budweiser script for a limited time, but the creed also changed. Several of the details on that pack changed to represent different parts of the fabric of American culture. And the intent was to simply unify the country, remind folks. It was in market from Memorial Day through July 4th, and we're continuing that brand legacy, even in the marketing arena, by having freedom reserve freedom, an American value, right? A core value that's a unifying value that we all believe in.
Derek Mock:
On our packaging this year, it comes with that limited edition recipe that we talked to before. So we're keeping it fresh, if you will, from a marketing sense. That's the reason for the continued evolution before America was the Statue of Liberty torch and a striped package that made a patriotic display in store. So we'll continue the themes as a brand, as many of your listeners would expect, but continue to share interesting stories, what we hope you find as interesting stories from year to year.
Josh King:
One of the reasons I know that my 87 year old father and 82 year old mother are slowing down in their beer drinking is because the six pack that they got for the Memorial day barbecue last year, there's still four of them left over in their refrigerator. So how long does one of your special additions last on the shelves? And then as a primer for all of our listeners, how long can you keep beer around before you should toss it and get a fresh six?
Derek Mock:
Good question. I think part of that depends on the alcohol level. So I'll answer for Budweiser, I'll answer for Budweiser reserve collection, and then I'll try to be helpful in total. For Budweiser, we believe Budweiser in package, so cans or bottles is freshest within 110 days. For the average in the category, it tends to be about half a year. So back to the package side, just to talk, to give people context, it tends to be 180 days or more. One of the benefits that we have of being brewed and distributed so broadly is that we can ensure fresher beer on a relative basis on average. So from brewer to sip, if you will. I alluded to, it depends on the type of beer.
Derek Mock:
So there are some beers, even within our total portfolio that are better bottle aged, but that is the reserve collection is again intended to be a fresh collection of specialty lagers that is best enjoyed within that 110 day life. And the good news is it's selling rapidly, so you would be hard pressed to find anything that's anywhere close to 110 days old in the market.
Josh King:
You mentioned that thousands of people who work in your breweries certainly work in your distribution systems, work in a package store, delivering the kegs to the bars. A lot of them have worn the country's uniform are veterans of the United States military. I want to listen to another clip this time from the U.S. military veterans employed by Bud talking over footage of a tour of one of those breweries.
Speaker 6:
But you still in your mind believe that you haven't done enough.
Speaker 7:
All right, guys, so this brings us to the end of our tour. I've also brought in for you guys to have the opportunity to meet some of the veterans involved in brewing the beer, Budweiser Freedom Reserve, which supports the Folds of Honor program. So, who here has heard of Folds of Honor?
Josh King:
So Derek, what is the Folds of Honor Program, and why has Budweiser partnered with it?
Derek Mock:
Sure. So Folds of Honor is a program, and when we did the closing bell, we had Rocky Sickmann from Folds of Honor representing that team with us, because they've been an integral partner of what we've done to support military families. We've started partnering with them in 2011, as you'll see. Again, you referred to yourself as a packaging guy, you'll see some of those details. So for anybody who's curious more, if you see it on the Freedom Reserve box, we've worked together to generate 14 million in scholarships since 2011. And Folds of Honor's an organization that provides scholarships to military families. Many of whom are the families of folks who sacrificed in a very real, tangible, and physical way for the country up through, and including paying the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms that we enjoy together. Right?
Derek Mock:
And so we believe it's true to the spirit of what George Washington stood for in terms of its tie to this product. It's true to the American value of freedom, and it's certainly true to what we've believed in as a company. And again, I have the good at fortune of simply working on a brand that's this storied, right? The company has supported U.S. veterans for over 100 years. And we're continuing that legacy here through continuing that partnership with Folds of Honor.
Josh King:
The clip that we just played, which we'll post on our show notes, is part of a project that you helped launch called Service Never Stops. What's that?
Derek Mock:
Yeah. So Service Never Stops was actually led by a different part of our marketing team, but it's a great way to represent what you see on the packaging and bringing the story to life. So we had three of our brewers, there's only so much space on packaging, three of our brewers who are proud veterans, their signatures appear on every bottle. They were chosen by their general manager of the brewery, Kevin, who you actually saw in the brand's Super Bowl ad where this product happens to also be brewed.
Derek Mock:
And the plot of Service Never Stops is that the veteran brewers were giving a tour that they thought was simply any other tour at their brewery. And they stopped in what was a gathering area, what could be perceived by them at the time to be a place where you would sample Budweiser at the end of that tour, and they ended up having a conversation. What you just heard in that clip was dialogue between the brewers who thought that they had stopped serving their country when they took their active uniform off.
Derek Mock:
And what they didn't realize is that by helping brew things like Freedom Reserve, yes, it's a step more removed. We're not under any misconception there, but they are still very directly helping benefit the families that they were surprised with. So the plot twist at the end of that piece of film is that everyone on that tour was directly impacted as a Folds of Honor recipient or a direct family member of a Folds of Honor recipient, and it literally changed their lives.
Derek Mock:
When you look at what we're trying to do together, it would not be possible without these brewers. And frankly, again, I think I speak for the whole Budweiser marketing team that we're honored to even get to work with these folks. When you see Service Never Stops, and I'd encourage the listeners, watch the film, get ready with a box of Puffs or Kleenex, but it shows you that you can matter even in unexpected ways as a human separate from the business.
Josh King:
After the break, our conversation with Derek continues on Budweiser's reserve collection.
Speaker 8:
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Josh King:
Welcome back. Today we have Inside the Icehouse, Derek Mock, a senior brand director with Budweiser part of Anheuser-Busch InBev, NYSE ticker symbol, Bud. Before the break, we were talking about the newest edition to the company's reserve collection, Freedom Reserve red lager, Derrick. And a lot of our consciousness sometimes about Anheuser-Busch and Budweiser is raised every February around the Super Bowl, whatever your marketers come up with to focus on for the brand, for the beer, for the company when so many people are watching that show. This year, I think it was your focus on disaster relief.
Derek Mock:
The Super Bowl ad this year showcased the companies over what has become over 30 years of continuous support for disaster relief in the form of purified drinking water to those in need. So we partner with our local wholesalers to get that distributed to those who need it. We shut down our breweries periodically, Two Can, so to package that water off. And then if we have extra, we put it in areas where it allows us to respond rapidly. And frankly, at times or sometimes one of the first to respond. And that credit is again, due a hundred percent to our wholesaler network. So again, in our world, that's our distributor partners to make that happen, right?These guys are running trucks faster than nearly anyone else, and we're really proud to have them as partners.
Josh King:
Let's geek out on packaging for a second. My thoughts go back to Don Draper, end of first season, the carousel episode. And he's talking about the circle of life in the family, and I'm thinking about the actual design of the Freedom Red reserve. It doesn't look like a flagship modern, tall boy, or what you expect the Budweiser bottle or can to look like. It has more of a nostalgic feel. What was going on with the design team and the fabricators to think this is how we want to present this special edition?
Speaker 9:
But there's the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job, I was in house at a fur company with this old pro copywriter, Greek named Teddy, and Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is new. It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a calamine lotion, but he also talked about a deeper bond with the product, nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent.
Derek Mock:
On Freedom Reserve, we worked with a design from JKR, Jones Knowles Richie, and to really bring to life different parts of the graphic design on the bottle. The bottle itself is inspired by a heritage bottle from Budweiser. And so again, we're sharing a heritage recipe with you in a heritage bottle with some design cues that are really nuanced. But to your point, if you really want to nerd out, I'm happy to talk you through a few of them that.
Josh King:
No, we're the uni watch of beer bottles right now, going back to ... I love throwback baseball uniforms, football uniforms.
Derek Mock:
Sure.
Josh King:
Anytime there's a throwback day, either in NFL or MLB, I'm always watching.
Derek Mock:
Okay. Well, on this one, you mentioned getting a six pack again, soon, the next time you look at a bottle, there are five stars to represent the five major branches of military. There are two bottle caps that together form a military challenge coin, which if you're not familiar is a part of responsible drinking culture and having a little fun with challenge coin ranks. And again, your listeners can read up more on that if they're curious. So we use designs like that. We honor three of our brewers who are veteran brewers, who brew this product with their signatures on every bottle, because they're excellent at what they do as working with Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch. And they're also of course have defended the namesake of the product, the freedom that we all enjoy.
Derek Mock:
And then finally we mentioned Folds of Honor in our packaging consistently because we're proud to be partners of theirs. And frankly, we can also do some good while selling beer by generating awareness of them. So as we talk with Major Dan Rooney, who's the head of Folds of Honor, one of the roles that we can play as bigger brands is by using the power of big, if you will, for good. And in this case we mentioned Folds of Honor in our advertising, and it's on our number one reach vehicle, if you will, which is the literal packaging. It's on the box and the bottle. And so it's an opportunity to drive broader awareness of the good work that he and his team are doing at the same time as telling an interesting with Freedom Reserve.
Josh King:
Still on packaging our household's more of a canned family than a bottle family.
Derek Mock:
Okay.
Josh King:
To put aside the Freedom Reserves line just for a second, but talking about beer packaging generally, there's glass, there's aluminum cans, there's the 12 ounce. And then there's probably 16, and I'm sure at a NASCAR race that I've been to, larger serving sizes than that in aluminum. And now there's also extruded aluminum bottle presentations. What are the differences from a beer drinker's perspective, taking it from any of those three vessels? And then certainly there's much greater cost in these formed extruded aluminum, new packaging.
Derek Mock:
Let's talk as drinkers first and then I'm happy to go into deeper detail if you're curious. So your read on the amber bottle or the brown bottle, the stubbier look, the heritage look, the nostalgic look as I think you were referring to it, the brown bottle is the essence of what people expect beer to come in. And so beer comes in ... the flagship of the category comes in brown bottles, right? The category brews in packages in green bottles and in clear or flint bottles as well. But when people think beer bottle, they think brown bottle first in the U.S. And so we're proud to bottle Budweiser in that. And we're proud to bottle our reserve collection in that as our flagship for both.
Derek Mock:
Aluminum cans allow for two things. One, they allow for lighter weight, which actually helps when you distribute at scale. It helps on the technical side by improving efficiency there, so reducing our carbon footprint. You mentioned earlier, we're now proudly brewed with a hundred percent renewable electricity in the U.S. on Budweiser. And so that's another way where we work with that. And then broadly cans are known for penetrating new occasions, right? If you're outdoors at a barbecue, people are more comfortable taking a can because there's no risk of it breaking if it slips out of your hand and you drop it on somebody's patio. There's truth to that, so we do that for that reason.
Derek Mock:
Between a 12 and a 16 ounces, honestly, that's as much a personal style preference. For Freedom Reserve, we're actually also running a limited run of 16 ounce cans that are premium in their features. They have a crown tab on top. They have a tactile finish that feels great when you touch it. And then the design is similar to what you've seen on the label of the bottle. That's for those new occasions, so outdoor concerts, backyard barbecues, things like that, but mostly for summer venues for how we're using it.And then you were asking about the extruded aluminum bottle.
Josh King:
Which I love. I mean, I get it at hospitality functions, at a great hotel. It usually comes packed in ice behind the bartender. And in your hand, it's so cold and stays cold for a long time.
Derek Mock:
Sure. I'm glad you like it. I think it's innovation to format in aluminum that frankly I think was somewhat overdue. I think that there's an opportunity to premiumize aluminum as a the total genre or format. To your point, the aluminum bottle is perceived to be ice cold, refreshing. And regardless of what style of beer you buy, refreshment is the number one, in general terms, driver of the categories purchase is a desire to be refreshed, right? People enjoy beer cold nearly regardless of the style or brand preference they have. In the U.S., that's the ritual.
Derek Mock:
People enjoy drinking out of the long neck opening, if you will, at the top. And the extruded aluminum offers the cold that you feel in a can, but the long neck opening at the top that many of our drinkers enjoy with, again, that glass bottle being the icon of the beer category, being what they associate with most. So you get a little bit the best of both worlds there for those occasions.
Josh King:
Obviously a huge amount of thought and sometimes risk that goes into brand extensions of a flagship name like Budweiser. How long does it take to launch a new beer? And how do you leverage the long established brand names like Budweiser and Bud Light to propel a new line into the market?
Derek Mock:
You mentioned Budweiser and Bud Light. So Bud Light, what you're referring to is Bud Light Lime. The brands come out this summer with a limited edition in Bud Light Orange, and it's doing very well. And I'll talk on Budweiser in a second, but before I get any farther, the broader question is what do you want it to do for the brand? And that offers a filter. Frankly, there are more good ideas that are interesting to you and me as drinkers in the world than are good for our business. Jumping into the brand examples you gave is really a primary driver of why people choose Bud light is refreshment. Then things as simple as the color blue, which is indicative of refreshment, which the brand has holds us on its flagship as a key design element, right? And things like the twist of real fruit, like you get in Bud Light Lime, or Bud Light Orange, now both with real citrus peels. It's a beautiful opportunity for them to express that refreshment benefit through that.
Derek Mock:
In our world, on Budweiser, again, we are proudly the great American lager as the brand has referred to it long before I joined the team and will continue to refer to itself, because we were proudly born and brewed here. And so it's an opportunity for us to showcase the full lager style. We talk about Budweiser classic, so the red one, if you will, as the perfect balance of flavor and refreshment, the perfect accompaniment for watching a game or for your food, for socializing. You and I, if this were later in the day that we were recording, could have one right here and it would go nicely with this. And it is a beautiful beer, but there are moments in our world, again, what do you want the reserve collection of these brand extensions to do for the flagship brand?
Derek Mock:
And so I go to school every time I work on one of these projects from our brewers who know way more. I joke with them that they'll forget more than I'm ever going to learn about beer, because they're really knowledgeable. In the past, it felt like is a shame is that lager for people entering our category, 21 to 25 year olds, people think of it as very singular. And it really is a beautiful spectrum as a style. So the reserve collection allows us to show off that spectrum on the product arena or the beer arena, the recipes side, in addition to telling those stories that are a part of the fabric of American culture through things linked to the pride and unity as a country in the summertime. And things linked to different elements of our heritage, including prohibition in the wintertime, but the style spectrum again, is what we're looking for here.
Derek Mock:
And it's a great way to ... again, back to the creator theme, right? When we work in these teams to come up with ideas and share them with, with you or me as drinkers, it's people who have fun doing it, right? So it's well, what would we want to share with our friends? So you go through all these filters of, does it make sense? Do people want it? Yes, people want this style realm. Okay. First of all, does it make sense for our business? Yes, if these conditions are met. Well, then once you really have the strategy set, you get to have fun with it. And so then we get to create stories and brew and drink and enjoy and share with each other first to refine it, and then with all of us as drinkers across the country.
Josh King:
We've been talking about a brand that was born in 1876 and how it stays relevant to today's cohort of beer drinkers who are 21 to 25 and older. And one of the ways in which you have to think about ways of connecting to these new consumers are looking at their smartphones, and the apps that they have in their smartphones, and things like Lyft to get around from place to place, maybe if you've had one too many. Or places like Drizzly, if you want to press a couple of buttons on your phone and have the six delivered right to your apartment, because you don't want to go to the package store. And the lamb Vindaloo is on its way and they got to make sure that the timing coincides.
Derek Mock:
Sure.
Josh King:
How do you guys look at some of these technology startups and think that could be a very good partner for our brand today?
Derek Mock:
So good question. I think that is certainly a multi-layered question. Let me answer it in chunks, if you will. So you talked about Lyft and responsible consumptions. So to your point are, again, similar to actually the brand extension conversation. What are we really trying to do? Well, what we want is people to drink and enjoy responsibly, but still be free to be social. And if Lyft helps people do that, our motive has been pretty unwavering in that we want to partner with folks who are good partners in the general sense, right, as you would expect. But specific to that arena who ensure that folks are able to enjoy socially, which we believe is a key driver of the total category, and frankly, a key driver to human happiness, being social, whether or not it's with alcohol. But if they choose to enjoy some Budweiser with their friends, then they get home safely.Lyft has been a great partner of ours on Budweiser and for an Anheuser-Busch. And we hope to continue to partner with folks like that to drive our responsible drinking efforts. On the other side, you mentioned Drizzly. Drizzly, again, is solving for again, what do you want it to do for us?
Josh King:
Maybe we should explain to our listeners who maybe do not have the Drizzly app on their phones, what it is.
Derek Mock:
If people aren't familiar at all with Drizzly or something like it, think of it as pizza delivery where you want it on demand as you want it, hot within an hour. This is that for beer. And of course hot equals cold in the ... as might be obvious in the beer realm, right? But you want what you want on demand, quickly. And the way that operates within the three tier system is we've delivered to our wholesaler who's delivered to a retailer. And Drizzly is a service that closes that gap between the retailer and your refrigerator.
Derek Mock:
In choosing a partner for something like a delivery service, again, you step back to what do we really want? Well, what we want to do is capture ... and the third thing that you'd also asked about is attention essentially. So how do you in this world of apps, et cetera, cluttered media framework, how do you break through is the way I interpret that question. At the end of the day, if we've captured your attention through, again, the part of the team that generated the content for Service Never Stops as an example or through traditional forms of advertising, like the new product introduction spot we heard before that, great. Now we have you considering buying us.
Derek Mock:
Now it's up to us as a collective system to then close that sale because we've done the work to brew great products. We've done the work to communicate that out and gain your attention, my attention as a drinker or shopper in the world as well. Well, now we simply want you to close the sale, right? We're a business like anybody else, like probably many of your listeners. And so closing the sale is important. Drizzly is one tool to help us close the sale while operating with full respect to the three tier system in the U.S., which for us is critically important because it again underpins our freedom to operate as a total system while still improving on the convenience for you and I as shoppers.
Derek Mock:
Especially if we're in a situation where we're far from a market and don't have a car, which as you see urban center populations increasing. The weight of beer, frankly, just carrying liquid home is sometimes inconvenient for folks if they have their hands full, or if they, for a variety of reasons, want the convenience of home delivery. So, that helps us close that sale. It helps us stay relevant with what people are expecting with things like Prime Now, et cetera, right? I don't mean that in respect to beer, but when you look at total culture, people are expecting more and more within a click on their phone, right? So it allows the industry to stay current in that respect while respecting the ways of operating of the industry.
Josh King:
So as we said, Budweiser Freedom Reserve Red is on sale until when?
Derek Mock:
Honestly, until it runs out. We've just brewed another batch because it's selling so well to ensure that we have supplies through July 4th. After that, it will vary a little bit, but as you alluded to at the start, we're excited to have the next chapter of the reserve collection, which we're calling a copper lager, which is a collaboration to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition with Jim Beam. It's the biggest brand to brand collaboration in the alcohol industry's history. It's the number one beer brand in the world, the world's number one bourbon coming together to find a way to collaborate, to celebrate our freedom, to do and drink. Whether it's brew or distill, we get to do and drink what we enjoy and share that with all of us as, as Americans. And so we're proudly honoring that December 5th repeal day is what it's centered around. And for us as a Budweiser brand, continuing that legacy of heritage and sharing unique stories with all of us across the country that we started last year with 1933 repeal reserve. This is another chapter in that and we're excited to partner with Jim Bean on it.
Josh King:
Did you have to read up in the Volstead Act before pursuing this partnership?
Derek Mock:
We've read up quite a bit on a variety of historical legislation to try to get our facts straight. We're fortunate on Budweiser and broadly for Anheuser-Busch to have a director of corporate archives, who frankly knows far more than I do here, though, she has kindly taught me at least the basics, I'd like to think.
Josh King:
Our director of corporate archives is sitting right here with us, Mr. P. Dash. I'm looking at this image that you can find on the website that is a marketing image, getting ready for this Jim Beam and Budweiser partnership collection. And it's this classic juxtaposition of the Clydesdales on some country road in front of what looks like a large Jim Beam, white barn warehouse somewhere.
Derek Mock:
Yeah, so that's an image of the Clydesdales coming to Claremont. So Claremont Kentucky is the home of Jim Beam. It's a town that they're proud to be from. And anytime we want to show that we are physically present in your community, we are proud to share the Clydesdale hitch, if you will. So the Clydesdales first came to be at the repeal of prohibition, so they're fitting in this image here to honor that repeal of prohibition.
Josh King:
How are you ever going to get the Clydesdales to Mars?
Derek Mock:
That's a great question, and when we figure that out, we'll have to schedule another one of these and tell you the story.
Josh King:
We're going to have to share this with our listeners that Budweiser takes next step to be the first beer on Mars. And I'm looking at this NASA mission patch, global barley research, AB and Space Tango SpaceX, CRS-13. If you got one of these patches in your office, I got to get a couple.
Derek Mock:
They are pretty neat patches. I've talked a lot about this theme of team, but that one was a passion between someone that works in our PR department, Jen, Jen Goldsmith for anybody who's a listening, amazing PR partner on Budweiser and our R&D team, to advance barley research. And so it's a beautiful example of if you dream it, we can do it. I'm glad to get to work with the team doing things like that to truly, in the literal sense, push the frontier of beer forward.
Josh King:
When the next SpaceX mission blasts off with a container of Bud on board, you'll come back and tell us how you did the packaging.
Derek Mock:
We'd be happy to come back and talk.
Josh King:
That's our conversation for this week. Our guest was Derek Mock, senior brand director at Budweiser. If you like what you heard, please rate us on iTunes so other folks know where to find us. And if you've got a comment or question you'd like one of our experts to tackle on a future show, email us at [email protected] or tweet at us at NYSE. Our show is produced by Pete Ash and Ian Wolf with production assistance from Ken Abel and Steven Portner. I'm Josh King, your host, signing off in the Library of the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks for listening. See you next time, and please drink responsibly.
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