ANHEUSER-BUSCH SEEKS OLYMPIC LIFT FOR VOLUME

RICHARD TURCSIK

ST. LOUIS -- Anheuser-Busch here is tying in with the Summer Olympic Games as a way of building its beer volume in 1996.

"As the exclusive beer sponsor for the Summer Olympics we are really excited about our involvement there," said John Hanichak, vice president of national retail sales at Anheuser-Busch.

"We have four promotions beginning in March trying to take advantage of this event before the summer period. It will continue through the end of the games. We will encourage consumers to 'grab the gold' and win by finding special gold cans inside special Bud family packages," he said.

"Grab the gold" will feature over 50,000 possible winners, and include such prizes as trips to Atlanta, new cars, television sets and official Olympics merchandise.

Anheuser-Busch also plans on stepping up the promotion of its Michelob premium brand of beer in 1996 by introducing a centennial brand of Michelob to mark the brand's 100th anniversary.

Hanichak said Michelob successfully recovered from an eight-year sales decline, with volume up 4% in 1995.

"We helped build that volume through some unique promotions and packaging that has just had a tremendous response at retail," he said.