Updated June 3, 2026. Part of EPR's Beer Brand PR cluster. Related: Food & Beverage pillar · Dos Equis Retrospective · Budweiser's Marketing Strategy.
Black Crown is a new concoction by Budweiser, one point above regular 5% ABV, a beer aimed to reinvigorate the brand. The product will be featured in two new commercials during the Super Bowl XLVII, on February 3, 2013.
In addition to the two commercials for Black Crown, Anheuser-Busch will also promote during the Super Bowl one commercial for Budweiser, two for Bud Light and one for Beck's Sapphire, which is the second new product the company aims to push.
However, the push for Beck's Sapphire seems weaker compared to the efforts at play for Budweiser Black Crown. The beer will go on sale in the US on 21 January, and there will be no TV advertisements prior to the Super Bowl, other than two 15-second teaser ads during the NFC and AFC Championship game. However, there are other means for Anheuser-Busch to generate a bit of buzz, including extensive media coverage, in anticipation of the two commercials.
There are also teaser images to go with the story, and the company already managed to generate a legend about how the Black Crown came to be, including revealing that it has put out a challenge to its 12 brew-masters to come up with something unique, and sophisticated, that could be branded as the next great beer.
"Black Crown's bringing Bud to a more sophisticated crowd and occasion," says AB InBev Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Patricio.
The premium-positioning play with Black Crown sits alongside Budweiser's broader pattern of trying to climb the beer category — the same instinct that drove the 2016 "America" rebrand and shapes the brand's current premiumization strategy.
EPR's Beer Brand PR Cluster
- Cluster hub: Dos Equis and the Most Interesting Man — A Brand PR Retrospective
- Budweiser's Marketing Strategy
- Budweiser Rebrands As America
- Learning from Bud Light
- Pillar: Food & Beverage Communications
