AB InBev

As Sr. Marketing and Innovation Manager, I meticulously crafted Ambev's 10-year business and marketing strategy into a comprehensive innovation portfolio roadmap covering the short, medium, and long term. We hired strategic partners such as Questtono, Bomma, and Alexandria to support that mission.

Setting up a new way of thinking

Ambev is part of AB InBev in Brazil. From the start, the company had strong leadership; one of its strengths was its distribution network. Ambev had muscle but needed the right mindset to maintain its position in the years that followed.

Ambev had also already launched AB InBev's most important innovation, Brahma Double Malte. It hugely impacted culture and sales during the pandemic, but the company's portfolio was, to be honest, a bit binary. Using the category framework, the company had products in every space within the market.

It was like a naval battle where Ambev had already filled every gap.

We shifted significantly from the category (price x liquid) framework to the Needstate framework. While more modern ways exist to understand consumer tension, the Needstate framework fits our business goals and tools, instilling confidence in our new approach.

We proactively conducted several studies on societal macro-forces to comprehensively understand their impact on all beverage categories, not just beer. This analysis was a cornerstone of our strategic planning, ensuring we were well prepared for potential challenges.

We anticipate Brazil's beer category facing challenges in the next few years. The country's religious landscape is shifting, the population is getting older, and the next generation will drink fewer alcoholic beverages.

Thus, we developed a new strategic framework mixing the 'Growth Opportunity Areas [Confidential] with consumers' need state to identify and make business bets on new opportunities in the beverage market.

Setting a new portfolio pipeline approach

With a broad direction defined, we also developed an innovation process to conceptualize a new approach to thinking about product development at Ambev. The company had already scaled start-ups that looked like the ones we wanted, but they operated like any other CPD.

It was essential to set a suitable mental model. As with any start-up, we realized the delivery process was costly. Ambev had already launched other products and moved straight to the second stage but failed. In the first stage, I researched the right problem, tensions, "job to be done," and consumption arenas.

We tested all paths quickly, so within a few weeks we knew which were most relevant to consumers, brands, and Ambev's opportunity size and business goals.

In the delivery stage, we brought together key stakeholders across the organization, including every squad for each GOA, supply, P&D, logistics, marketing, sales, beverage specialists, external cultural experts, and senior decision-makers such as the president and vice presidents, to co-create agilely.

We prototyped the best concepts and quickly tested them in small areas to assess each one's performance, like a start-up.

Results

Our rigorous Ipsos-approved research methodology identified 45 innovative concepts, which we brought to life through 15 successful prototypes. This testing process has given us a promising glimpse into the future of Ambev's innovation portfolio.

Brasil with S

You probably don't know, but recycled beer bottles can use only 46% of old material. For the first time, we could use 100% of the glass used.

We defined Colorado as a brand because of its relationship with Brazilian culture. In popular houses, using small shards to pave floors is common. So, we call it "Colorado Brazil with S: every piece of small shard makes our history."

Chopp Brahma in a Can

In Brazil, there's a law that says only non-pasteurized beer can be named "Chopp" (our draft beer). Other flash-pasteurized products are available on the market, but the truly "Chopp" only Brahma has. A great product, but only on-trade because it needs refrigeration.

Chopp in a can is not a liquid or packaging innovation. It's a logistics and platform innovation. We guarantee a refrigerated, quality product in the Ze Delivery app. The same as the bar.