I Worked At Anheuser-Busch When Bud Light Imploded. Here’s What I Learned.

The following is an excerpt from the new book “Last Call For Bud Light: The Fall and Future of America’s Favorite Beer,” by Anson Frericks (Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster).

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The wait for the seven-floor elevator ride was taking longer than usual. Anheuser-Busch had recently moved its sales and marketing team from St. Louis to New York City, and more and more people were crammed into the glitzy new office. One of the elevators was broken, and a mob was waiting in the lobby. I decided to take the stairs.

I was on my way to meet Brendan Whitworth, the North American CEO of Anheuser-Busch. The meeting was critical. We had an opportunity for a partnership that could breathe new life into a company that had entered something of a midlife crisis. I’d crunched the numbers. The capital outlay would be negligible, but the profits could be immense. Anheuser-Busch, where I was President of U.S. Sales & Distribution, could make millions.

As I rounded the corner from the stairwell…