| The history of beer is a long tale since beer has been | | | | modern sports bars.) The comaraderie of sharing the |
| with us almost since man learned to make fermented | | | | game with old and new friends, drinking beer, |
| beverages. Many stories throughout history talk | | | | celebrating victories and drowning sorrows at losses |
| about beer and beer like products. But until recently | | | | made the matchup of sports and beer in the 40's a |
| (historically speaking), beer was just a product made | | | | perfect match. An advertiser couldn't ask for a |
| locally and distributed locally through pubs, inns and ale | | | | better demographic and psychographic match than |
| houses. Advertising was unnecessary since much of | | | | sports and beer. |
| life centered around the inns as a place to get and | | | | By the early 50's, beer commercial advertising and |
| disseminate information. | | | | show sponsorship was so accepted that beer was |
| As populations grew and became more decentralized | | | | ready to move to prime time television. It began in |
| and news became more readily available through | | | | 1950 when Blatz Beer sponsored the migration of the |
| printed media like newspapers and magazines, the | | | | Amos n' Andy radio show to television. They |
| importance of pubs and inns grew less. At the same | | | | invested $250,000 to make this the major event of |
| time, production of beer was migrating from being a | | | | the year and were wildly successful. In fact they |
| series of local operations to a few very large entities | | | | were so successful, they quickly became one of |
| making massive amounts of beer and using | | | | America's top television advertisers. |
| innovative packaging and distribution networks to | | | | Other brewers, seeing the success of Blatz Beer, |
| distribute it globally. To keep their companies growing, | | | | quickly jumped on the bandwagon and sponsored a |
| they needed to advertise their products to ensure | | | | variety of other television shows and developed a |
| that they kept (and even captured more) market | | | | variety of means to spread the message - |
| share and also to grow market share by building | | | | testimonials, mini-dramas, celebrity endorsements, |
| images that would induce people to drink beer and | | | | demonstrations and identifiable characters - like Mabel, |
| get the same benefits in their life intimated by the | | | | the waitress who would bring the bottle of Carling |
| advertising pitches. | | | | Black Label when called with the famous phrase "Hey |
| The birth of sophisticated advertising of beer began | | | | Mabel - Black Label!" In fact this commercial is |
| shortly after prohibition ended. At that time, the | | | | attributed with growing Carling Brewing Company |
| efforts were very cautious. Many changes were | | | | from number 28 in 1951 to number 6 in 1957. |
| occurring in America. Prohibition ended. Television was | | | | By the mid-50s, beer commercials were in their |
| just starting to grow a viewership base. Advertising | | | | heydey. It was big business run by sharp Madison |
| on television was a very new and uncertain | | | | Avenue ad agencies and beer companies with lots of |
| endeavor. Public opinion about the advertising of beer | | | | money to invest in growing their market share. They |
| to a general audience was very mixed. | | | | had learned that the right ad campaign could make |
| Against this backdrop, the first efforts to advertise | | | | their company and the wrong one could break them |
| beer on television were very timid - consisting of | | | | faster than anyone could imagine. Literally, for the |
| mostly late night sponsored shows followed by | | | | first time in history, the fate of beer rested in the |
| numerous surveys to be sure the commercial efforts | | | | ability of the manufacturers to get their message to |
| were not causing a backlash against the beer | | | | their current and potential customers delivered in a |
| companies.Through this initial period of timidity, the | | | | compelling manner on television. The mantra from this |
| beer advertisers learned something very important. | | | | time forward literally became success on tv or perish. |
| The majority of early television sets were located in | | | | As an interesting sidenote from the 21st century, the |
| neighborhood taverns. (Keep in mind that very early | | | | commercials did their work. The many beer |
| televisions were quite expensive and a television in a | | | | companies of the early 20th century dwindled to just |
| tavern was quite a draw.) People would go to the | | | | a fer very large ones and is now swinging back again |
| tavern, get a beer and watch a bit of television to | | | | with the advent of microbreweries and specialty |
| relax and unwind after a hard day's work. In terms | | | | beers. As peoples wealth grew, their desire for more |
| of finding a targeted audience, the beer companies | | | | sophisticated beers grew and now there are |
| couldn't ask for anything better. If they could run a | | | | microbreweries and specialty beers to satisfy every |
| beer commercial for their brand while their customers | | | | taste. Of course this is only a small percentage of |
| were in the exact place where they could buy that | | | | the beer being offered but you can now go into a |
| beer with no effort, what could be better. | | | | supermarket and choose from a large variety of |
| From this study was born the link between sports | | | | beers - something you couldn't really do not too |
| and beer. After all, it was the sporting events that | | | | many years ago. |
| people wanted to watch in taverns (much like in | | | | |
