Wrestling legend desires to carry America again collectively, ‘one beer at a time.’
Actual American Beer is setting its sights on changing into as “big as Bud Light” via a inventive advertising technique that pays homage to its late founder, Hulk Hogan.
It leans on campaigns like alligator searching and a squad of “Real American Girls” to advertise its product. Everybody on the startup, led by former Anheuser-Busch InBev government Terri Francis, dedicated to this mission. Francis advised FOX Enterprise that it had been Hogan’s dream earlier than his demise in July 2025 at age 71, simply over a 12 months after launching the corporate.
“His goal was that this would be bigger than Bud Light, and… now we have to carry that out,” mentioned Francis, Actual American Beer’s CEO, including that Hogan wished his beer firm to depart an even bigger legacy than his wrestling profession.
“I feel a deep responsibility to carry out what he started,” Francis mentioned.
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Actual American Beer women promote the product at an occasion. (Actual American Beer)
Francis mentioned the corporate has a inventive plan to face out from rivals who she believes have missed the mark on how you can market beer. She mentioned the corporate will not be “pushing a message of beer” however will turn into a part of “moments that are out of the ordinary.” It is a nod to Hogan, who she mentioned had a singular potential to excite and energize these round him.
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Actual American Beer goals to set itself aside from rivals by making the beer part of a significant expertise reasonably than specializing in the product itself. It is a tactic, in response to Francis, that’s not like most beer advertising, which facilities on the product itself.
The corporate is deploying a bunch of “Real American Girls” to speak concerning the beer and interact with clients at occasions. As Francis sees it, the corporate is placing a face to a model “in a world where there are a lot of faceless brands.”
Lately, the corporate additionally created a marketing campaign that showcased individuals consuming Actual American Beer whereas looking for alligators.
Alligator searching marketing campaign with Actual American Beer. (Actual American Beer)
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The corporate additionally plans to make investments in nation music in addition to increase its partnership with NASCAR. It additionally created its personal Actual American Freestyle wrestling league with FOX Nation.
Earlier this 12 months, the corporate introduced a multi-year partnership with WWE, below which Actual American Beer will likely be featured throughout WWE’s flagship programming, together with “Monday Night Raw.”
WWE additionally grew to become a minority proprietor within the beer model, which is now offered in 20 states. In April, it secured a cope with Walmart to be in shops throughout eight states: Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Actual American Beer women promote the product at an occasion. (Actual American Beer )
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Whereas Dave Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting, mentioned any new beer model can be “hard-pressed to catch up to the size of any of the current premium leaders” reminiscent of Bud Mild and Miller, he believes that “there remains a lot of lager-drinking beer consumers out there across the country, which to me still reads as an opportunity.”
Particularly within the home lager market, which stays big, even grabbing 1% of market share can imply large gross sales, in response to Williams. However that also will not be straightforward. He famous that that is additionally one of many hardest segments to interrupt into, provided that the foremost manufacturers have the means to stay dominant with large advertising and distribution energy.
Actual American Beer women promote the product at an occasion. (Actual American Beer)
Williams famous that some regional and heritage manufacturers, like Lone Star, Rainier, Narragansett and Genesee, have managed to construct loyal followings by leaning on authenticity and native pleasure. That very same attraction is what new labels, like Actual American, are additionally making an attempt to faucet into, Williams mentioned.
“There are also a lot of occasions and consumers still up for grabs when it comes to new legal drinking age consumers or current drinkers looking for an authentic, quality brand to call their own,” Williams mentioned. “There are still plenty of opportunities for any new brand to find success. Achieving scale that rivals a category leader like Bud Light is not a task to be taken lightly.”
