All about business

Bud Light has been around for 27 years. And Bud Light Lime is, like, so 2008.

Beer fans with short attention spans, fear not. Anheuser-Busch is about to launch what it hopes is the next big thing: Bud Light Golden Wheat.

The October launch will give Bud Light three formidable prongs as Anheuser-Busch continues to expand the muscle of its best-selling brand.

Will Golden Wheat prove a worthy cousin to Bud Light Lime? The citrus-flavored brew was the first major extension of Bud Light and one of the most successful newcomers in recent years. It sold more than 1 million barrels in its first few months, and sales continue to grow.

Anheuser-Busch — a division of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer — doesn’t necessarily expect Golden Wheat to produce the same results as Bud Light Lime. But it expects a big splash nevertheless.

"Our expectations are fairly big for this, given that it’s got Bud Light’s name on it," said Keith Levy, A-B’s vice president of marketing.

Sales of wheat beers have grown dramatically in recent years, bolstered by brands such as Molson Coors’ Blue Moon, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat and Widmer Hefeweizen. Anheuser-Busch got its toes wet in the category with beers such as Michelob Honey Wheat and Shock Top Belgian White.

Golden Wheat will be supported by an annual advertising budget of roughly $30 million — in the neighborhood of Bud Light Lime. "We’re going to have fairly aggressive targets" for sales, Levy said.

Golden Wheat — whose existence was first reported Wednesday on the Post-Dispatch’s Lager Heads blog — has been in development for nearly two years. It will roll out across the country during the week of Oct. 5.

Anheuser-Busch has done a brisk business tacking extensions onto its dominant brands. Bud Light itself, now the biggest beer brand in the U.S., was an offshoot of Budweiser in 1982. It was A-B’s response to the success of Miller Lite.

"Line extensions are typically a very good idea, because you’re attracting people who are seeking something new," said Haim Mano, associate professor of marketing at the University of Missouri-St free credit report instantly. Louis.

Companies have been doing similar things for years, Mano said. He noted Pepsi’s and Coca-Cola’s excursions into diet cola, as well as A-B’s effort to reach active women with Michelob Ultra.

Golden Wheat’s marketing themes are still being worked out. Levy said the target audience would be drinkers ages 25-44 — including "loyalists" who lean towards A-B’s beer, as well as "trendsetters" who like to be on the leading edge of new beverages. The trick will be attracting new fans without alienating Bud Light’s core drinkers — men ages 21-27.

Bud Light Golden Wheat will be positioned as a flavorful alternative with the "drinkability" expected from Bud Light, Levy said. He was careful to insist that A-B would not try to "out-craft" craft beers.

"We’re going for people who are interested in light beer but want a little more flavor, a little bigger taste," he said. The goal is to "stay true to what the mother ship, Bud Light, has to offer."

The problem for Bud Light is that its sales and market share are shrinking. Bud Light Lime is siphoning off some sales. So are cheaper beers such as Busch Light and Natural Light.

Tacking on an extension to Bud Light is a calculated risk.

The hope is that Golden Wheat will draw in people who aren’t drinking much beer, or are drinking competitors’ brews, said UMSL’s Mano.

Even if Bud Light Golden Wheat steals some sales from standard Bud Light, that will work out OK for Anheuser-Busch, Levy said. That’s because Golden Wheat will sell for roughly $1 to $1.50 more per six-pack than standard Bud Light. That means more money per swig for Anheuser-Busch.

Golden Wheat soon will start flowing out of A-B breweries in New York, Georgia and Colorado.

"The brand is ready to go," said Levy. "It’s a great new offering. We’ve got a lot of ideas in the pipeline that we can pull the trigger on at the right time."

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