World Cup 2014 beer brands jostle for position in the portfolio

THIS COLUMN regularly reviews mergers and acquisitions and attempts to tease out the likely impact on global and local brands so it was with interest that we read SportBusiness latest report on sport in Brazil. In the world cup section we discover that Brazilian beer brand Brahma (official Brazilian beer to the 2010 World Cup) is likely to be eclipsed by Budweiser In 2014 as they are now part of the same company. Brahma owner InBev was formed out of a merger between Brazil’s AmBev and Belgian brewery Interbrew. Now InBev has acquired Anheuser-Busch which brews Budweiser - long-standing World Cup sponsor and the brand which famously doesn’t know anything about football. To add to the confusion InBev also markets a local soft drink, Guaraná Antarctica which is sponsor of the Brazil national team. Gulp!