Ponturo Discusses Anheuser-Busch's Sports Marketing Efforts
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Ponturo Discusses Anheuser-Busch's Marketing
Efforts During Fox Business Appearance |
In determining which sports to be involved in, Anheuser-Busch VP/Global Media & Sports Marketing Tony Ponturo told Fox Business yesterday his company looks at a "lot of research ... and our wholesalers also around the country give us a lot of feedback. ... (But) the best thing is just observing. We all can go to an event, see how people are excited, see the observation, (and) look at television ratings. Ratings will tell you the interest as well. So you put that all together.” Ponturo said of sponsoring the UFC, “What surprised me ... is that (MMA) was number two against males 21-27, right next to the NFL. Now we spend well over $100[M] on the NFL and we had spent nothing with (MMA). That’s when we said, ‘We better look at this.’ We really like what the UFC folks had done to make it a little bit more of a brand.” Ponturo said of being an Olympic sponsor despite the controversy surrounding this summer's Beijing Games: “As an advertiser you have to stay focused on why you’re there, which is supporting the athletes. Many people in the country realize that the funding that the sponsors give is to support their training. You want the competition on the field. There’s always going to be platforms that people will have in the sense of freedom of speech, but we have to stay focused on why we’re sponsoring these events, which is the competition" (Fox Business, 4/7).
MORE BUD FOR YOU: In a Q&A with BRANDWEEK's Mike Beirne, A-B VP/Marketing David Peacock said of the company's sports marketing efforts, "There are things we can do within the area of sports with Budweiser that are consistent with messages like heritage that appeal to the loyalist consumer and at the same time appeal to the sports fan. You can imagine with sports like baseball, like Olympics and NASCAR, there are things we can do to reinforce heritage, reinforce quality and still link to sports" (BRANDWEEK, 4/7 issue).
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