Dethroning the King by Julie MacIntosh Page A

circle the wagons and consolidate power, not to hand it to someone else.
    â€œI had a client who used to say, ‘Great men have great weaknesses,’” said Charlie Claggett. “I think there’s a lot of truth in that. I guess that was August. One of his weaknesses was his strength also—his lack of trust. You had to prove yourself every day or else you weren’t with him.”
    One former employee compared August III to Prussian king Frederick the Great, who had a difficult childhood under a brutish father and tended to confide in his beloved Italian greyhounds. “He talked to his pet dogs, but he had so much confidence in his own ability that he didn’t need to talk to other people. He would just tell them what to do.”
    â€œYou were not going to loosen up August III,” said a former ad agency head. “He was a very narrow persona. He was constrained emotionally and intellectually. He mustered all of the resources and talents he had and was laser-focused on selling beer. And he learned how to do that really well.”

Chapter 4
    Selling the American Dream
    He’s a very instinctive decision maker. He clearly understood that the advertising had to appeal to young males, drinking age males. He understood the importance of music to that group, of sex, of athletics and sporting.
    â€”Roy Bostock, former ad agency head
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    P eople don’t just drink beer. They drink the brand that lies behind the beer. And while many image-defining brands are expensive, like Mercedes or Gucci, even the very best beer is still an affordable luxury—a way for the common man to make a statement without breaking the bank. When someone walks into a bar and steps up to the counter to order a beer, the brand he shouts out says something about him as a person. August Busch III recognized that, and he exploited it.
    â€œIf you think about beer, in your own personal circle there are probably people who drink a different beer when they’re in a bar than they do at home, when nobody sees them,” said one former Anheuser executive. “There’s a badge associated with the bottle you’re holding in your hand when you’re out in public or with your friends, and it’s important. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because beer companies poured a tremendous amount of money into developing the image of their brands.”
    Anheuser-Busch didn’t become the world’s most famous brewer based on the superior quality of its products. Many beer connoisseurs disregard Budweiser for being “fizzy,” “yellow,” and “bland.” It took a century and a half of exceedingly careful cultivation to turn arguably mediocre Budweiser into the King of Beers. Thanks to the billions of dollars in advertising spending that helped foment the cult of Budweiser, Americans love not only Anheuser-Busch beer, but beer in general. The mere sound of a pop-top aluminum can cracking open evokes memories of summer vacations, backyard barbecues, and thrilling sports victories. Beer is part of America’s cultural fabric. And that’s where The Third’s brilliance was the most evident.
    â€œHe clearly knew that advertising was the brand,” said Roy Bostock. “And therefore, as CEO, he was involved in the advertising up to his eyeballs. A lot of CEOs more often than not say the advertising is someone else’s responsibility. Not August. He knew the criticality of advertising to the brands. Budweiser was created by the advertising.”
    And that was what InBev wanted to buy—all of the stress and sweat and tears through which Anheuser-Busch magically turned its middle-of-the-road beers into a patriotic movement. Budweiser, Brito liked to say, is “America in a bottle.” And it doesn’t just trump other beers, like Miller or Coors; it stacks up well against some of the world’s most recognizable brands,