‘Our goal is simple - to become the most iconic beer brand in India’

In the first quarter of 2025, the Indian subsidiary of the multinational drink and brewing company, AB InBev reached a significant milestone as India became the fourth largest market globally for its marquee brand Budweiser.

In addition the company’s focus is also on its mega brands, Corona and Hoegaarden. Vineet Sharma, VP – Marketing and Trade Marketing, AB InBev India says, “Our focus has been to create meaningful connections - that go beyond celebrating or selling a beverage that resonates with the Indian audience.”

AB InBev India recently launched a campaign from the House of Budweiser, ‘Yours to Take’ that reinforces a belief that today's consumers value experiences, great narrative and creativity, value and they see brands as a champion the lifestyles, their self-expression, freedom, and passions.

Commenting on the campaign, Sharma says, “A great music experience is not only because of the musicians and the overall experience, but also due to the fans who come to the festivals. This is where Budweiser comes in as a pioneer and is now synonymous with music culture in India. It celebrates the expression and energy of the fans and this campaign highlights and acknowledges the role of fans and makes them the hero of our story. We have been partners to many music experiences and will continue to elevate the experiences of music and give fans the spotlight that they deserve.”

Leveraging The Booming Indian Music Scene

In the recent past, the music scene in India has exploded with international and Indian artists performing to large crowds. This has given brands, particularly alcobev brands, an opportunity to reach out to its consumers through engaging experiential marketing initiatives.

AB InBev India has leveraged its IPs such as Budweiser Sensation - a series of large-scale music festivals featuring local and international artists – the EDC India festival, the Mirror to Tomorrowland concert, renowned global broadcasting platform Boiler Room, amongst others to capture “a massive opportunity.”

As per Sharma, Budweiser’s understanding of the Indian audience helps the company bring value to their partnerships. Being the early movers in the music ecosystem and partnering with festivals and the artists community, has created strong relationship with the community. Going forward, while these partnerships will continue, Budweiser is looking to curate more of its own experiences. He says, “We want to have a deeper understanding of music, not just as sponsors or partners, but to have our own voice and POV in the music. We will develop more of our own proprietary properties, bringing our global partnerships to India and collaborate with artists who have possibly never come to India, or never performed the Budweiser way, which is about freedom, ambition, and being bold with an aggressive spirit. Our goal is simple, to become the most iconic beer brand in India.”

In addition to music, the other passion point is Sports. The strategy here is not just to be the on-ground partners but also be content partners and create deeper narrative. Budweiser has been associated, in the past, with FIFA World cup and will continue this association with the FIFA Club World Cup this year as well as the FIFA World Cup next year where the brand will be seen in an avatar that has not been activated before in India. The brand is looking at building momentum by exploring other international sports with their stated objective to keep fans front and center of the experience.

Creating An Immersive Experience

With consumers looking for an immersive and multi-sensory experiences, AB InBev India is betting on technology to deliver on this. For example, the beer brand debuted NFTS at Lollapalooza a couple of years back and had a NFT wall where Budweiser fans could monetise their NFT at any time. Other examples were having interactive installations at festivals to a podcast or a radio station live from a festival.

Sharma says, “We're trying different concepts as the lines between physical and online get blurred. It’s not just about the physical appearance, but also how people express themselves online in their digital avatars. Currently we are experimenting and it’s trial and error as we are figuring out what’s working and then scale it.”

Bringing Down International IPs To India

Globally, AB InBev has multiple global equity brands and IPs that have strong equity in the minds of the Indian consumers. In 2019, Budweiser launched BUDX – a two-day event with live local and global performers. This year, in June AB InBev India announced the first-ever BUDX NBA House in India, an interactive fan event celebrating the convergence of basketball, music and culture.

Earlier in March this year, Corona Beer made its debut at Lollapalooza India where visitors experienced Corona’s philosophy of celebrating life’s golden moments with their friends. The main stage at the event was called the Corona Sunsets Stage and showcased a mix of global and local artists. In addition, the Corona Ferris Wheel offered a light display during the day and night while Corona Vista, an immersive retreat, saw festival-goers celebrate moments with friends. For this year’s Holi, AB InBev India debuted the Corona Sunsets Holi edition and Hoegaarden sponsored events, with plans to scale up going ahead. Sharma says, “We are very bullish on sponsorships and also on our view on music, sports, lifestyle and food.”

Another aspect that Sharma takes pride in is AB InBev India’s innovation agenda. This includes, launching its India-first innovation, a premium whiskey Budweiser Magnum Double Barrel Whiskey; a non-alcoholic energy drink, Budweiser Beats; a Hoegaarden gin with three varieties – Mediterranean, Belgian Original, Parisian Romance; launching multiple flavours from the House of Hoegaarden; introducing a homegrown craft beer brand, "Seven Rivers", with two variants: a Hefeweizen (strong) and a Witbier (mild); and partnering with the Aryan Khan-owned Slab Ventures to launch a premium blended malt scotch, D'yavol Inception and premium vodka brand D\'YAVOL. Sharma says, “We are pushing the boundaries on cultural innovations, like bringing down IP properties for the first time in India, for our consumers. When people come to our experiences, they're not just coming to just drink beer but to also enjoy immersive activations - enabled through technology – which they have never seen before. The experience also carries through in our day-to-day activations.” He continues, “As a brand, we are clear that we want to be the trendsetter brand in India. We have got love from the Indian consumers.”

A key strategy of AB InBev India’s communication is to move from product centric communication to a cultural centric. Commenting on the use of AI in marketing he says, “AI will not only disrupt creative storytelling but will also disrupt not just media management but also media buying platforms, this is before the media execution happens. That's one of the use cases we're trying to see - a media plan coming from AI, once you give them your problem statemen, target, audience and budgets. This is still in a beta stage and whether this materializes or not but the intent is to use technology in every aspect.” Another strategy is the increase in getting first party data and works with its partners - music streaming sites, promoters of festivals - to capture the data from different touch points and using that data to sharply target consumers.

With premiumization not just a trend or a fad anymore, with Indians consumers trying to upgrade their lifestyle. Premiumization is not just restricted to metros and Tier-I cities, but is now seen in Tier II and Tier III towns and also extends to experiences as well as people are looking for better and never-seen before experiences each time they go to a festival. Sharma says, “Premiumization is now part of the beer category and we are the pioneers in the premiumization of this category in India. In 2011, we launched Budweiser Magnum - a super-premium variant of Budweiser – priced at a higher price point, and this was unheard of at that time. The insight was that consumers are seeking refined and better-quality beverages to complement their lifestyle and are okay paying a premium for it.” He adds, “We are excited to bring the premium variants of Corona and Hoegaarden and are expanding these brands across India as we see a huge opportunity for these brands. Close to 60% of our business comes from the premium segment. We see the contribution from premium and super premium brands increasing, year-on-year. As the leaders in the premium segment, our activations will continue to grow this segment year-on-year, and we are very bullish about the premium trend and also the Indian story.”

Looking ahead, AB InBev India is looking to consolidate its gains and are investing ahead to the curve to understand their consumers, who they are and what are their preferences. The beer major is look to deepen its presence in trade and expand its offerings across India. Sharma states, “Today we are the fourth largest market for Budweiser and are not happy with that. We want to accelerate our journey and with our estimates we might be the third largest country sooner than later. India is one of the biggest growth markets for AB InBev. We're very excited about 2025, and you will see a lot more action and announcements on all our brands, Budweiser, Corona and Hoegaarden.”