This holiday season, Budweiser has decided that they are going to drop their iconic Clydesdale horses from their advertising. To give some context, these horses have been a feature of Bud’s ads for over 80 years. The brand says it is only for a short period but I wonder whether this is a precursor to a permanent move to pastures greener for our equine friends.

Above: Clydesdale horses have been used in the Budweiser branding for over 80 years

The Clydesdales have been used to represent care and quality, key values that Bud believes is at the heart of their brand but ones which may not be resonating as well with beer drinkers as they once did. Bud is shifting their focus towards younger drinkers, to try and stay edgy and relevant in a market that is becoming flooded with smaller, ‘cooler’ boutique craft beers.

Is this a case of cutting off their nose to spite their face however? Is the brand risking damaging the 80 years of equity and trust that they’ve developed with their iconic mascots (if they do choose to change strategy) or is the change for the brand to truly shift its vision and become a relevant player in the beer industry again. This may be the dipping of the toe in the ocean that starts the process. It will be interesting to watch it play out.

However the past is littered with failed re-brandings for the sake of trying to attract the cooler market. Gap aimed to change it’s positioning with a new logo. That lasted the sum total of a week. And in fact, Bud once before tried to remove the horses from their now famous Superbowl ad spot, but thanks to a flurry of criticism, they were hastily reintegrated. So they will know well that it’s a treacherous path ahead.

I would be willing to bet a substantial amount that there will be a lot of very nervous stakeholders in the business giving up their second helping of plum pudding at Christmas in order to review the brand tracking data over this period. There will be a very keen eye cast over the brand values (if they are tracked like they should be) searching for any small changes. If a positive shift occurs, it might be curtains for the Clydesdales. However, I have the feeling that they will be around for a while longer, but maybe with a pair of sunnies and an Instagram account…the youth love that kinda stuff.

What are your thoughts on the Budweiser move? Let us know on Twitter.