Michelob ULTRA Newest Seltzer Offering Points To The Where Seltzers Are Heading

In the increasingly competitive hard seltzer market, one that seems to birth a new product almost daily, grabbing consumers’ attention has never been more challenging. This is leading to a stratification of the category as brands begin to carve out niches for themselves to secure shelf space. Much like the battles in the craft beer space over the last few decades have led to a plethora of different beer styles, the diversification of products in the seltzer arena is happening at warp speed as every brand tries to outdo the others.

Helping to lead the way is the recently launched Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer. Launched in January of this year, the brand has taken off, achieving a 3.83% market share in just eight weeks according to recent IRI data. While part of its success can be attributed to AB InBev’s powerful distribution platform, there are other ingredients too.

As an extension of an established beer line, Anheuser Busch has been able to take the Michelob ULTRA name, one that was already known in consumers’ minds as a premium low-calorie beer, and create a connection with drinkers looking for a healthy alternative. By making the product the first nationally distributed organic seltzer, they only reinforced that message.

That was all part of a plan, according to ULTRA’s VP of Marketing, Ricardo Marques. “Seltzers are exploding on the back of health-conscious drinkers, looking for low calories, zero added sugars, and zero carb options. And that’s where we saw white space in the market today, which we decided to go after. “

Building an advertising campaign around a simple message, ‘As Real As It Tastes,’ they specifically targeted a more mature hard seltzer drinker, one aged 35-54. This consumer is often an afterthought as the focus tends to be on young millennials that first embraced seltzers. By debuting with a mixed twelve pack of unique flavors (spicy pineapple, peach pear, and cucumber lime) at a premium price point, they were hoping to uniquely position themselves in a spot that they could hold and build upon. It seems to be working. This week, they roll out another mixed pack labeled the classic collection (citrus, mixed berry, and mango apricot) three to build upon the space they have and expand.

All of this is part of AB InBev’s continuing consumer-centric focus on brand building, a departure from past patterns. By working to connect many of their products to specific consumers instead of employing a one-size-fits-all approach, they hope to build increased brand loyalty.

“The hard seltzer space is growing with every single consumer demographic; you look at the income, age, ethnicity. That is exactly why having a portfolio approach is so critical to win in this space and to drive growth.” Says Marques. “Having a portfolio of options, catering to different needs, different consumer profiles is definitely the way to go.”

Only time will tell where the seltzer space will end up. Already there are craft, wine, booze, low end, premium, and other seltzer options pouring forth. There is only so much room to be had on increasingly crowded shelves. It seems that ULTRA might have carved themselves out one that might hold.