According to Ad Age, Belgium-based, Brazilian-run InBev not only has largely succeeded in controlling the media’s narrative of its $46 billion takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch, it’s also managed to emerge looking more sympathetic in the process.
Public-relations experts, analysts and journalists covering the saga attribute InBev’s public-relations coup to an open and aggressive approach that has involved a barrage of well-placed leaks, public appearances and online video messages from its CEO, Carlos Brito, as well as a torrent of public letters to A-B and its board making a case for the deal. By contrast, A-B resorted to a reactive, bunkered-down posture. And when it has spoken out, it hasn’t always helped itself.
InBev even has a site–Global Beer Leader–dedicated to the takeover bid.
