Marketing boss Anheuser Busch says Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light fiasco was “wake-up call.”

Anheuser-Busch’s chief marketing officer, while accepting an award at an awards ceremony on Monday, said the partnership between Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney was a humble reminder that the company needs to better understand its consumers.

Ironically, Marcel Marcondes made the remarks while accepting an award for ‘Creative Marketer of the Year’ at Cannes Lions – a lavish industry conference in the south of France dubbed the ‘Oscars for the advertising industry’.

It comes months after the company lost $27 billion in value over a campaign in which it partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. That upset the Conservatives and then failed to support Mulvaney due to the backlash from the Liberals.

Although AB was named the winner of the award before the fiasco broke out, it was not officially awarded until Monday, which meant there was a mighty elephant in the room. Some even said the company should reject the award, This is reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Marcondes made the comments while accepting an award at Cannes Lions 2023 (pictured), a lavish industry conference in the south of France dubbed the “Oscars for the advertising industry.”

Although AB was declared the winner of the prize before the fiasco broke out in early April, it was not officially awarded until Monday. Some suggested that AB should not accept the award

But it was the first thing he mentioned during a presentation, according to a report in AdAge.

“In times like this, when things are so divisive and controversial, I think it’s an important wake-up call for all of us marketers to start with being very humble,” he said.

“That’s what we do, be very humble and really remind ourselves of what we should be doing best every day, which is really understanding our consumers.

“That’s to really celebrate and appreciate every consumer who loves our brands – but in a way that allows them to be together, not apart.”

The session was described in the programming notes as part conversation about AB InBev’s “unwavering focus on connecting with consumers in meaningful ways,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Marcondes has been with AB InBev for nearly two decades and now oversees the global marketing strategies of AB brands, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA and Stella Artois.

“It’s hard to see the contentious and divisive debates that have taken place in the US in recent weeks involving many brands and companies, including and especially Bud Light,” Marcondes said during Monday’s presentation.

“It’s difficult, precisely because we’re all about bringing people together.”

“That’s what Bud Light is all about – it exists to make beer easy to drink and easy to enjoy,” he said.

“That is what we will all do as a team to move forward as a group. That’s what leaders do. Bud Light is coming back. It’s going across the country, reconnecting with consumers and moving forward. That’s what you can expect from Bud Light in the US.”

The AB executive accepted the award months after the company lost $27 billion in value due to a marketing campaign partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney

Anheuser-Busch is led by US CEO Brendan Whitworth, former Navy lieutenant, CIA officer and Harvard Business School graduate who joined AB in 2014

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AB InBev was also awarded the same prize at the festival in 2022. Marketing company founder Leila Fataar, who attended this year’s event, suggested to the Washington Post that AB should have considered not accepting the award.

“In the spirit of fairness and credibility, I think it would be a great and appropriate gesture by AB InBev to return the 2023 price, make the necessary changes and come back even stronger,” she said.

The conference was held as Bud Light prepares to launch a campaign this week that will emphasize “inclusion” in response to the disastrous divisive campaign earlier this year.

Brendan Whitworth, Anheuser-Busch’s US CEO, also announced that the company would “invest” to protect the jobs of their frontline workers – indicating that declining sales have had an impact on the brand.

In an announcement on Thursday, Whitworth admitted that the “discussion around our company and Bud Light has moved away from beer, and this has impacted our consumers, our business partners and our employees.”

Whitworth added: ‘We are a beer company and beer is for everyone. Today we are announcing three key actions as we continue to develop our business.

“Firstly, we are investing to protect the jobs of our frontline workers. Second, we provide financial support to our independent wholesalers to help them support their employees.

Third, to all our valued consumers, we hear you. Our summer commercial launches next week, and you can look forward to Bud Light reinforcing what you’ve always loved about our brand – that it’s easy to drink and easy to enjoy.

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, has seen its market cap drop by $27 billion after a disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney (pictured)

Brendan Whitworth, Anheuser-Busch CEO for America, announced that the company would “invest” to protect their jobs for their frontline workers

“As we move forward, we’ll focus on what we do best: brewing great beer and earning our spot in moments that matter to you. To a future with more cheer.’

The ad campaign kicks off next week and will portray Bud Light as “easy to drink and easy to enjoy.”

It’s one of the few times the company has directly addressed the controversy surrounding its partnership with Mulvaney – as bosses initially claimed an “outside agency with no management awareness or approval made the move to work with Mulvaney.”

Anheuser-Busch said earlier this month it would triple its marketing spending in the US this summer to boost distressed sales.