• Ad Age, Tuesday, March 16, 2010 10:46 AM

Jeremy Mullman traces Bud Light's woes -- it posted its first loss in sales ever last year, you may recall -- to the "Drinkability" campaign that was the product of research by the consulting firm Cambridge Group. The agencies involved with the execution, the consulting company's CEO and Anheuser-Busch executives all seem to agree that Cambridge did not dictate creative execution but its findings did apparently have big impact on the repositioning of both Bud Light and the flagship Budweiser brands.

"Each brand largely abandoned the emotional appeals that had helped them become the two largest beer brands in the U.S. for straightforward pitches about process and product attributes that coincided with worsening sales for both labels," Mullman writes.

He also points out that consulting groups such as McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group and Accenture have long held sway with the brands of Fortune 500 companies, but echoes warnings that their influence may be overstepping their competencies. Consultants "can be outstanding at what they do, which is linear thinking and process," says Cramer-Krasselt CEO Peter Krivkovich. "It's just important for clients to remember that human behavior is not linear."

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