Anheuser-Busch InBev calls a media agency review in China

ZenithOptimedia Shanghai has worked with the brewery as its media agency partner in China for the past two years. The agency won the Budweiser account around the same time and was reappointed to the account after InBev acquired AB for US$52 billion in 2008.

According to an industry source the client currently buys 50 per cent of its media through Zenith and 50 per cent through various brokers. AB InBev is looking to consolidate its media buying into an international media agency.

According to information from AB InBev China's website (last updated March 2009), CR Snow/SAB Miller is the top brewer in the China with a market share of 18 per cent. AB InBev's market share is calculated at 15.4 per cent in representing global brands Budweiser and Beck's along with key local brands like Harbin, Sedrin and Red Rock among others.

“China's beer market is dominated by top local brands like the number one selling brand Snow Beer, follow by Tsingtao and Yanjing Beer. Even westerners in China prefer drinking local beers,” another source added.

According to the Wall Street Journal, AB InBev sold its remaining 7.01 per cent stake in Tsingtao Brewery for US$235 million to Chinese tycoon Chen Fashu in May last year. The deal came after AB InBev initially sold 19.9 per cent of its 27 per cent stake as a minority shareholder in Tsingtao Brewery to Japan's Asahi Breweries for US$667 million.

In a seperate development, AB InBev's Harbin, the official beer for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, launched a digital campaign across major Chinese portals in December last year.