Posts Tagged ‘business strategy’
Bemdesor and Bod Liqbt
These brand names don’t exactly roll off your tongue. That won’t stop Anheuser-Busch from bringing them to a TV near you. Keep your eyes peeled for these malt beverage products on TV and in the movies.
A few days ago, The Beersage raised good questions about these labels. At first it was not at all clear, but after some looking around, a good reason comes into focus.
This year’s approval for Bemdesor does not shed much light, nor does this year’s approval for Bod Liqbt. Go back a few more years, however, and it becomes clear. This 2006 approval for the mellifluous Bemdesor Seqyct quite clearly states:
THIS LABEL IS BEING USED FOR DISPLAY IN MOVIE/TV PROGRAMS ONLY. THE BOTTLE WILL BE FILLED WITH A NON-ALCOHOL PRODUCT IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH FCC REQUIREMENTS.
A-B has used labels of this sort since at least as far back as 2003; here is an early Bod and here is an early Bemdesor. So far there is no sign of the FCC rule at issue, and it’s not the rule cited here. TTB does require something similar at 27 CFR § 7.54(b)(2): “Any label depicted on a bottle in an advertisement shall be a reproduction of an approved label.” Here are ten famous product placements for beer (with nary a mention of Bemdesor).
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Too Remote Brewery
Lang Creek Brewery bills billed itself as “America’s Most Remote Brewery” and is was 500 miles east of Seattle, in Marion, Montana.
Perhaps it was too remote. Sadly, it closed a few months ago. The above is one of the last of about 12 approvals over just five months (for the most recent owner of the brewery). It’s a tough business and I suppose it’s even tougher when things like supplies and repairs and visitors are a few hours away. New West explains why the brewery could not carry on, complete with good photos. In the article, Lang’s marketing director confirms:
“The idea was great, the location was awesome — it’s such a gorgeous piece of property. … But business-wise it’s just hard to make a living when you don’t have consumers all around you.”
Was it really America’s most remote brewery? By what measure? What’s the most remote brewery now?
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Puzzle Time Wines
As lawyers, we would never condone playing games on wine labels. But here are two examples where TTB was okay with it.
On the left, Puzzle Time wine has a word search game.
On the right, the Fetzer label features a “rebus.” That’s right, a rebus. The approval describes a rebus as “a kind of word puzzle that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.” Can you read the rebus on this label? I don’t want to spoil the fun here, but the answer can be found on the label approval.
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Forty Proof Beer
Once upon a time, the federal government prohibited the disclosure of alcohol content on malt beverage labels. The rationale was to protect public health by discouraging brewers from competing in “strength wars,” to sell more product. It took years of persistence by Coors Brewing Company and a ruling from the Supreme Court in 1995 to persuade TTB (then ATF) to allow the practice.
Did the strength wars ever materialize, once the rules changed? Among the major brewers, not really. In fact, we noted that there is war of a different kind — increasingly lighter beers (in alcohol and caloric content) from Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors.
But the craft beer movement appears to have its own strength war. “Extreme beers” — beers with intense flavors and alcohol contents at three, four or even five times the amounts in a typical American lager — help small brewers stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And yes, they have many more calories too.
Boston Beer Company offers one of the strongest beers available for sale in the United States, with their Utopias, at 24% alc./vol. and a whopping 732 calories per 12 ounce serving (as per Skilnik).
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s 2002 release of World Wide Stout is listed at 23.04% alc./vol. and has approximately 666 calories per 12 ounce serving.
Although the offerings from Boston Beer and Dogfish Head top 20% alc./vol., the labels do not disclose the actual alcohol content. Sonoran Brewing Company’s Sonoran 200 is not so coy. It weighs in at 19.37% alc./vol. and has the highest alcohol content we’ve seen listed on a TTB-approved beer label. No caloric content details are readily available, but one might reasonably expect this 13.2 ounce bottle to be roughly equivalent to a Big Mac (at a scant 576 calories).
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