Top Anheuser-Busch marketing executive is leaving after collapse in Bud Light sales
The top Anheuseur-Busch marketing executive, Marcel Marcondes, is leaving the company after Bud Light sales saw a large decline in the market. Bud Light sales were down 4.7% in the second quarter of 2020, which was the biggest drop in more than five years.
Marcondes had been with the company since 2013 and was part of the beer giant’s efforts to focus on digital marketing as craft beer and spiked seltzer sales began to rise. He oversaw a broad portfolio of brands, including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Corona.
Anheuseur-Busch did not comment on Marcondes’ departure, but it is seen as a sign of the company’s shifting focus to other beverages, such as hard seltzers, as traditional beer sales continue to decline.
The company has already begun to focus less on Bud Light and more on Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Corona, as sales of those brands have grown over the past year. Anheuser-Busch is also investing heavily in introducing new products based on hard seltzers, such as its Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade.