Dive Brief:

• Budweiser is putting the names of 11 states — California (which has two Budweiser breweries), Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia — on bottles and cans where the popular beer is produced, the company said in a statement.
• The special packaging will be on store shelves from July to September. Each state will have its own custom packaging. The label changes include: "Budweiser" on cans and bottles being replaced with each state's name; the center medallion "AB" monogram updated with state's initials; "King of Beers" swapped to include each individual state's motto; and "Anheuser-Busch Inc." replaced with each state's nickname.
• "Our new state bottles and cans celebrate the homes of our breweries and the communities that support them," Ricardo Marques, a Budweiser vice president, said in the written statement. "Since 1876, Budweiser has been proudly brewed across America, and this summer, we're inviting local consumers to raise a cold one with us."

Dive Insight:

Budweiser is no stranger to package overhauls that draw attention to its product and target a specific audience. AB InBev's Budweiser announced in May it would be re-releasing a lineup of patriotic packaging to help raise money for armed forces members and their families.

The new state-specific lineup of labels is a good way for Budweiser to reach out to parts of the country where the brewer not only produces the beer, but creates jobs and local pride — and pumps money into the area economy. It also is a good idea for Budweiser, now owned by Begium-based AB InBev, to use the state and patriotic packaging to remind consumers of the beer's U.S. origins during the summer when people are grilling and enjoying a cold brew with friends. 

In an industry where big beer manufacturers are not only competing against themselves, but a growing number of craft breweries, companies in the industry are wise to try to find ways to make the product feel new again — and hopefully to keep it top of mind for shoppers or bar patrons next time they have a beer. With more than 5,300 different beers, there is no shortage of products to choose from.

Label overhauls also are often an effective way to increase sales. In 2011, Coca-Cola started its "Share a Coke" campaign, where people could personalize the beverage with their name. In 2014, the company saw an increase in sales after it ran it in the U.S. Nestle's Lean Cuisine redesign helped drive a sales increase of $58 million in the following year. Nutella used algoritims to create a limited-edition of collectible jars in a variety of eye-catching colors, shapes and patterns, including zig-zags, polka dots and splotches. The 7 million different package designs sold out within a month.

Budweiser, Coca-Cola and other companies have generated buzz and increased revenue following the introduction of new packaging that is tailored to a specific person or segment of the population. In an industry thirsty for growth, expect more clever designs in the future to woo the consumer.