The creation and communication of a new corporate identity at Anheuser-Busch InBev

171 Pages·2009·7.4 MB·English

The creation and communication of a new corporate identity at
Anheuser-Busch InBev

Paper (“scriptie”) submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirement for the Advanced Master Degree:
Multilingual Business Communication, by Sander Laridon
2008-2009

Supervisor: Prof. dr. Geert Jacobs
Description of the internship

Bedrijf Stagebegeleider Afdeling Taken Talen tijdens de stageperiode
stage
Anheuser- Kristien Abbeel Internal - Organisatie en Hoofdtaal is 27 april ‘09
Busch InBev / Communication opvolging van interne Engels. Tot
Brouwerijplein Laurence Western Europe evenementen (LPC Daarnaast ook 17 augustus
1 Andrianne (People & meeting, World Nederlands en ‘09
3000 Leuven Management) Environment Day) Frans voor
- Redactie en gewone
coördinatie van interne gesprekken op de
communicaties voor de werkvloer.
Zone Western Europe
- Presentaties maken
voor de Zone President
Western Europe en voor
de Vice President
People & Management

- 2 -
All information in this dissertation is confidential to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

No part of this dissertation may be made public, be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any
means, or stored in a database without the prior permission of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
- 3 -
Word of thanks

For me, this dissertation paper means the end of an extremely interesting but exhausting year. In the
past year, I broadened my vision and mind and acquired knowledge and skills. In addition to this, I
met a lot of interesting people whom it was a pleasure to work with.
My internship at Anheuser-Busch InBev was the acme of my academic studies. It was an exquisite
opportunity to turn the gathered knowledge and theory into practice. As a consequence, I want to
thank the people at Anheuser-Busch InBev, and particularly Kristien Abbeel and the full People &
Management Team, for the opportunities that they offered me.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my parents for their unremitting care and support. In addition, I
want to show my biggest thanks to Emmelien, my girlfriend. The past four months were extremely
interesting but also very hectic and heavy. When I once in a while experienced a hard day, she always
managed to tone me up with her love.

Sander Laridon
Ghent, August 2009
- 4 -
Index
1. Anheuser-Busch InBev.................................................................................................. - 10 -
1.1 Anheuser-Busch InBev anno 2009 ......................................................................... - 11 -
1.2 Anheuser-Busch InBev’s history ............................................................................ - 13 -
1.2.1 ‘Den Horen’ .................................................................................................... - 13 -
1.2.2 Interbrew ........................................................................................................ - 14 -
1.2.3 InBev ............................................................................................................... - 15 -
1.2.4 Anheuser-Busch InBev.................................................................................... - 16 -
1.3 Company structure ................................................................................................ - 18 -
1.3.1 Global level ..................................................................................................... - 18 -
1.3.2 Zone Western Europe .................................................................................... - 20 -
1.4 Corporate identity ................................................................................................. - 22 -
1.4.1 Mission and strategy: the four pillars ............................................................ - 22 -
1.4.2 Cost-Connect-Win Model ............................................................................... - 26 -
1.4.3 Dream-People-Culture platform .................................................................... - 27 -
1.5 Anheuser-Busch InBev’s brands ............................................................................ - 31 -
1.5.1 Marketing & Brand strategy ........................................................................... - 31 -
1.5.2 Brand portfolio and consumer profile ........................................................... - 34 -
- 5 -
1.6 Anheuser-Busch InBev’s competitors .................................................................... - 41 -
1.6.1 Direct competition ......................................................................................... - 41 -
1.6.2 Indirect competition ....................................................................................... - 43 -
1.6.3 Budget competition ........................................................................................ - 45 -
1.7 SWOT Analysis ....................................................................................................... - 46 -
1.7.1 Strengths ........................................................................................................ - 46 -
1.7.2 Weaknesses .................................................................................................... - 48 -
1.7.3 Opportunities ................................................................................................. - 49 -
1.7.4 Threats ............................................................................................................ - 50 -
2. The creation of a new corporate identity after mergers and acquisitions .................. - 51 -
2.1 Corporate identity, image and culture .................................................................. - 51 -
2.2 Internal communication ........................................................................................ - 56 -
2.2.1 Definition ........................................................................................................ - 56 -
2.2.2 Purposes ......................................................................................................... - 57 -
2.2.3 The interaction between internal communication and corporate identity ... - 59 -
2.3 Adaptation and acculturation in mergers and acquisitions .................................. - 60 -
2.3.1 The importance of postmerger/postacquisition integration ......................... - 60 -
2.3.2 Modes of acculturation .................................................................................. - 61 -
2.4 A new Anheuser-Busch InBev corporate identity ................................................. - 66 -
- 6 -
2.4.1 Degree of acculturation.................................................................................. - 66 -
2.4.2 The creation of the Anheuser-Busch InBev corporate identity ..................... - 67 -
2.4.3 The communication of the new corporate identity ....................................... - 77 -
3. My internship at Anheuser-Busch InBev ...................................................................... - 80 -
3.1 The rollout of the new Anheuser-Busch InBev Ten Principles .............................. - 81 -
3.1.1 Background ..................................................................................................... - 81 -
3.1.2 Personal contribution ..................................................................................... - 81 -
3.1.3 Personal evaluation ........................................................................................ - 84 -
3.2 The organization of World Environment Day ........................................................ - 86 -
3.2.1 Background ..................................................................................................... - 86 -
3.2.2 Personal contribution ..................................................................................... - 87 -
3.2.3 Personal evaluation ........................................................................................ - 88 -
3.3 The organization of the LPC Western Europe ....................................................... - 89 -
3.3.1 Background ..................................................................................................... - 89 -
3.3.2 Personal contribution ..................................................................................... - 90 -
3.3.3 Personal evaluation ........................................................................................ - 93 -
3.4 The writing and sending of ‘Flashes’ ..................................................................... - 94 -
3.4.1 Background ..................................................................................................... - 94 -
3.4.2 Personal contribution ..................................................................................... - 94 -
- 7 -
3.5 Presentations ......................................................................................................... - 95 -
3.5.1 Monthly Calls .................................................................................................. - 95 -
3.5.2 Engagement .................................................................................................... - 96 -
4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... - 97 -
5. Bibliography ................................................................................................................ - 100 -
5.1 Printed sources .................................................................................................... - 100 -
5.2 Digital sources ...................................................................................................... - 101 -
6. Annex .......................................................................................................................... - 102 -

- 8 -
Preface

This paper gives a detailed overview of my internship at Anheuser-Busch InBev and zooms in on the
creation and communication of a new corporate identity, since I played a part in the communication
of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s new corporate identity.
I resolutely chose to do my internship at Anheuser-Busch InBev for several reasons. First of all, I
wanted to do my internship at a multinational in order to acquire relevant experience. I also thought
it would be nice to put on my curriculum vitae. In addition, I am a beer enthusiast and I am
fascinated by the brewing process and the whole beer culture. Anheuser-Busch InBev was a logical
choice for me.
Besides this, I felt attracted to the field of internal communication because it was one of the domains
that I did not know that well. As a consequence, I wanted to explore the possibilities of this function.
In November, I sent my application letter to Kristien Abbeel, Internal Communication Manager
Western Europe. One week later, I had a personal talk with her. She explained me the responsibilities
of the Internal Communication Department and talked about the company. After this talk, I knew
that I had made the right decision. As a matter of fact, now that my internship is over, I am still of the
opinion that I made the right decision.
In this paper, I discuss my experiences at Anheuser-Busch InBev. The paper consists of 4 chapters. I
the first chapter, I discuss the company, its structure, strategy and brands. The second chapter deals
with the creation of a new corporate identity after mergers and acquisitions. I sketch a theoretical
framework and I then use it to discuss the method that Anheuser-Busch InBev followed. In the third
chapter, I describe my tasks within Anheuser-Busch InBev and I evaluate them. In the fourth chapter,
I look back at my experiences and arrive at some summarizing conclusions concerning MTB, my
internship and my personal and professional development.

- 9 -
1. Anheuser-Busch InBev

This chapter gives an overview of the company Anheuser-Busch InBev, or AB InBev. First, I will
discuss Anheuser-Busch InBev’s history and current position. Next, I will elaborate on how the
company is organized and structured. After that, I will examine the corporate identity of AB InBev
and AB InBev’s brands. After a sketch of the consumer profile and the competitors of the company, a
SWOT-analysis will summarize the chapter.
Even though I will discuss AB InBev’s history, identity, brands and competitors from a global point of
view, I will often focus on the Western European Zone. This because of AB InBev’s own structure and
organization, and because of the fact that I did my internship at the Zone organization.
The content of this chapter is based on AB InBev’s corporate website1, AB InBev’s ‘Inside’ website2,
AB InBev’s intranet, the Annual Report 20083 and the knowledge and insights I gathered through my
internship at the company.

1 Anheuser-Busch InBev, Corporate website. http://www.ab-inbev.com/ (20/08/2009).
2 This is a website that is only for the employees of Anheuser-Busch InBev. This website provides information
about the company.
3 Anheuser-Busch InBev, Annual Report. http://www.ab-inbev.com/go/media/annual_report_2008
(20/08/2009)
- 10 -