USA: Anheuser-Busch changes tactics for winning beer competition

Anheuser-Busch has established that its main rival in the battle to convince US consumers to drink more Budweiser is wine and spirits rather than its closest beer competitors, Business Review reports.

As an answer to the decline in domestic beer sales, Anheuser Bush switched tactics and hired film director Spike Lee to make a series of adverts encouraging consumers to drink beer. The new campaign, "Here's to Beer", will feature celebrities talking about with whom they would most like to share a beer.

"It's about connection, you know. It's about something that's very social. It has a deeper meaning," said Robert Lachky, the company's executive vice president for global industry development.

Spike Lee will also star in one of the adverts and chose the late Brooklyn Dodger star Jackie Robinson as a drinking buddy.